Fashion and Fyre
by AtlasSniperman
Summary: Meet Ryan Cabberin, A homeless man in the Kalos region of an untypical pokemon world. Filled with guns, true violence and the serious threat of death, this story is strongly reminiscent in tone to the Pokemon Adventures Manga. Contains; blood, violence, gore, sex scenes, a conspiracy against children, a cult, and a protagonist chewed up and spit upon the streets by an unfair life.
1. Chapter 1: You wanna go?

Through the Southern entrance to Aquacorde Town, a quaint little settlement in southern Kalos, wandered three youths. Two young women and a single young man, the two girls had recently finished their schooling, and the young man had moved to the nearby town of Vaniville only the day before. As they walked past, the one girl knelt beside a considerably older looking man sitting slumped against the wall and draped in tattered and dirty rags. With a smile she poured a small amount of water into a little paper cup which she handed to him. The man nodded his thanks and held the cup down for his small, gold and crimson dog to drink from. It barked happily and returned to sleeping on the man's lap. After she patted the small dog, the young woman returned to her companions and kept walking. _"There's the meeting place"_ the other, slightly older, girl said pointing to a table at a cafe nearby. The one who'd offered water skipped happily along, the other two shaking their heads at her as the three joined two boys sitting at the table. _"Let me introduce everyone."_ The older lass remarked. _"Everyone, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is Tierno-"_ She gestured to the rather large boy who had been waiting for them. _"-He's got some serious dance moves. This is Trevor-"_ The smaller boy she gestured to reached across the table to shake the new guys hand. _"He never misses a single question on his tests, but he's a little shy..."_ She was interrupted by the larger boy, who boisterously remarked on his pleasure to meet this new friend, whom he insisted they give a nickname to immediately. Nicknames are an organic thing though, usually not given on a first meeting. A point that the elder girl immediately brought up _"Take Justice over there"_ She motioned to the man in rags, who sat at the wall of the building nearby, silently scratching the back of the neck of the canine draped across his legs _"No-one just started calling him that, it's just the name people call him. I don't even know why."_

 _"Hey! Can we see the Pokemon now? I want to meet my new partner soon!"_ The younger girl interjected excitedly, resulting in a round of laughter from her friends, even the nervous but calming new boy. At this point, the large boy Tierno pulled from under the table a small box, from which each of the three newcomers drew a pokeball. The boy released from his pokeball, in a flash of red light, a small blue toad creature with large eyes and a mane of clear to white bubbles. The older girl, Serena, followed suit; revealing a bipedal mammalian creature about the same size as the large toad, but in possession of a large green shell that extended up it's back and over it's head. The younger girl was last to see what she'd received, unveiling in a flash of red light; a small gold and crimson dog. The canine was in in excellent physical shape and quite happily bowled over the young lady, nuzzling her face in excitement. _"Wow! My partner is Fennekin!"_ She exclaimed, clamouring to her knees where she could pet it on her own terms before seizing it's head in her hands and nuzzling it back. _"We go together great! The two of us are just way-ay-ay too cute!"_ She looked up and over at the man at the wall, noting that the man's Fennekin was watching with interest. It was obvious that the pokemon wanted to come investigate, maybe even play. But without it's masters command, it would not leave his side.

As the smallest boy, Trevor, handed out the pokedex's he'd brought along and started explaining the concept of a pokemon trainer adventure; Two people in red clothing approached. The clothes they wore were an interesting hybrid of both fashion and function, being excellent protection against most weather, being very cool to wear, but also quite stylish and attractive. _"Do you know why parents actually send their kids out as pokemon trainers?"_ The man in red asked, though he continued before Trevor could respond. _"It's to get rid of them"_ He smiled, his sunglasses tilting as he did so. _"They take children who have no other prospects in life and simply shunt them off with pokemon, let the outside world handle them"_ The children began to protest, but quietened when both people in red drew pokeballs from their hips. _"How about we take them off your hands, so you don't have to worry about such a harsh life"_ he remarked in a tone that sounded to be half an order, half an offer. The kids refused, lining up with their pokemon in front of them. Tierno's large Lobster, and Trevor's electric rodent, joined the line; standing resolute against the two in red. The resulting battle was between the the line of young pokemon trainers, against two well organised individuals; who's pokemon were a strange assortment including a black dog with bones outside it's body, and a small purple bat. It was a minute, perhaps less, before the children were kneeling beside their battered and bruised pokemon. In flashes of red light the injured were gone, and only the five children remained. The taller man in red pulled out a small, elegantly designed, handgun; which he levelled at the children. _"Now we aren't asking"_ continued the man, a wicked grin across his face, _"We're ordering you."_

Two of the pokemon of the people in red turned, growling at something behind their owners. The taller man turned to see a shabby, bearded man in ragged clothes standing swaying behind him. _"Ex-excuse m-meh surr, k-kan ewe n-nut threaten ch-chirrin?"_ He stammered, swaying there somewhat hazily. His dog standing beside him growling at the man in red and the other pokemon.

The gunman smirked and turned to point the gun at the vagrant. _"Get lost bum, this isn't your business!"_

The man developed a confused and slightly offended look. _"A bumm?"_ He swayed a little, looking at the children _"Guy called me a bum!"_ Shauna stifled a giggle at the obviously fake shock in the man's tone, watching as he turned back to the fellow in red. _"A bum is a col-colloquialism though"_ He smiled a little as two in red exchanged glances _"A word for a p-pershon's buthoks; you know, two cheeks with a hole between them that spills pointless and unwanted garbage"_ it grew more and more apparent that the slurred words were a ruse, they dropped away as sharply as the man's swaying. _"Like the garbage you're spewing that you'll shoot someone"_ He grinned, taking a step closer to the fellow who moved back in response; the gun levelled directly at him, he barked in cynical laughter. _"Ha, you won't shoot me! I'm too close, if you fire a shot you'll be sprayed with blood"_ He grinned, looking up and down. _"And we wouldn't want such a pristine and perfect outfit to be ruined with the impossible to remove brown stains of dried blood would we."_ His hand snapped upward, grabbing the other's arm and moving it to place the gun against his upper chest. _"Shoot here, right here! Straight through, all blood will go out my back"_ The vagrants eyes locked onto his, an intense and heavy glare that unnerved the man in red and had him pulling at his arm to try and himself free. _"No, You're going to shoot me."_ He looked to his associate, who on attempting to move closer was intercepted by the snarling golden dog. _"You threatened kids"_ The vagrant's voice grew louder, more aggravated. _"You would shoot kids? Well shoot me!"_ He began to yell at him, their faces not a foot apart as he pulled himself closer. _"Well shoot!"_ He yelled at him, the crowd around them growing nervous and several people moving backward to avoid a potentially stray bullet. The gunman looked at his colleague but was promptly slapped across the back of the head. _"No! Look, at, me! I want you looking at me when you shoot me"_ He grabbed the back of his head and pulled it forehead to touch his own. _"Do it! Shoot!"_ He yelled down at the now shaking man, his height seeming to stretch on forever _"It's not a threat unless you follow through, Shoot!"_ He continued. The shaking fingers pulled the trigger, blasting a hole through the filthy man, sending blood spraying out his back but not a drop from his front. Without missing a beat, the large man in ragged clothes ripped the gun from the now weak hand. Placing the muzzle near the ear of the man in red, and pointing at the ground behind them he fired, repeatedly. Each time he flinched, recoiling and shuddering, finally moving hands to his ears when the firing stopped.

The vagrant, holding the gun, turned to point it at the standing man in red. _"How many shots did he fire? How many shots did I fire?"_ He said, quieter but still quite aggravated. _"Did you count?"_ his stare was unflinching and steady. Slowly the other man returned the remaining pokemon and gathered his associate from the ground, carrying him alongside as they fled the town. As they left, the vagrant stashed the gun into a small sack at his belt and knelt down to look at the children at the level they found themselves. _"Are you all right?"_ He asked, calmly and quietly, watching as they all nodded shakily. _"No-one's injured?"_ He was answered by a group of shaking heads, and a slowly encroaching crowd. After telling the children to visit a pokemon centre to get their pokemon some help, he slapped his leg twice and rushed through the crowd that parted at his approach. His fennekin dashing after him as he went.

Once outside the town, and across the bridge over the small river, the man dropped to his knees. Running his hand over his chest and back, he ascertained the presence of two holes, and from the angle was certain that nothing important had been hit. From his sack he drew a small kitchen knife, which he handed to the dog. The gold and crimson pooch happily took the end of the knife in it's mouth, being careful not to cut itself. After a couple minutes it whined and looked up at him, opening its mouth as he gently grabbed the knife's handle. The vagrant made sure not to touch the white hot parts of the metal with his fingers, instead pressing it against the edges of the bullet wound on his chest, and then again on his back. _"Well, that was interesting, wasn't it boy?"_ he smiled and patted the small pokemon on the head once he'd finished grinding his teeth in pain. _"Don't let me shoot myself again, ok?"_ The dog barked, to which the vagrant laughed and handed it a stick.


	2. Chapter 2: A cry for help

The bridge from Aquacorde Town spanned over a canal; eighty meters wide, fourty meters deep. The public on either side of the old clay brick bridge were held from plunging into the current below by a meter tall fence running along the banks. Standing at the fence, the vagrant placed the pointer finger of each hand on the top of the railing, pressing down with his hand and bending the fingers back painfully against the fence. After bending his fingers back for about a minute, the man swapped to pressing his centre fingers instead. Taking a minute on each finger, paying little attention to the tattoo numbers at the knuckle of each. He knew the sequence like, well, the back of his hand. working from left to right on his right hand were the simple symbols; One, Four, Sixteen and Sixty Four. Seemed the oddest things to get etched permanently on the skin at the back of his hand. His left hand was more detailed than his right, consisting of; 256, 1024, 4096 and 16384. By spending ten minutes forcing his fingers to bend back individually, or in each possible combination, the man had plenty of time to notice the young woman approaching across the bridge. Though she was the sort to bounce as she walked, or perhaps even skip most the time, she walked calmly and solemnly. Even without the occasional glimpses of small gold and red ears by her side, he recognized this girl. Shauna was a sweet child, if often a little naive, when she pays attention or is interested she can be quite intelligent, though she rarely acts it.

Arriving at his side of the canal, Shauna approached the older man, head hung down. She stopped at the railing beside him, hands gripping the wooden bar as she looked down at the water silently. The man could see some officers of the law moving about the streets in the town across the canal, they were speaking to a collection of people near where the two men in red suits had attacked the children. _"Thank you"_ She muttered, not looking up from the water as she kicked a small stone over the edge. _"Don't worry Mr. Cabberin"_ Their reflections below rippled silently, blurring their images in the wake of the small stone.

 _"I'm surprised you recognized me Ms. Armeniox. A lot has changed in the last few years"_ He responded, turning away from the water to watch as the two red and gold canines tugged on either end of the stick he'd given his, the healthier looking one growling playfully.

 _"I don't think anyone could forget you sir. But I'm finished that part of my life, please call me Shauna?"_ Shauna knelt by the two canines, slight watering could be seen in her otherwise smiling eyes.

 _"In that case, call me Ryan"_ He offered the young lady his hand, both to help her stand and as a typical greeting. She took it and welcomed the aid in standing, though she did not need it. _"I assume they're asking about me then?"_ He asked, nodding to the police across the river.

 _"Kinda"_ Was her shaky response, taking care not to glance across the river. A flash of mechanical red light, and Ryan's Fennekin was left alone holding its stick. It's ears lowered before it's head. _"Some people called them because of those people that attacked us"_ She sat on the edge of the bridge, kicking her legs as she looked at him, a ragged and visually broken man. _"They were right though."_ A strange comment given the ambiguous pronoun. _"The men in red."_ She continued, _"They said that parents send off kids with no other options, idiots, just to get rid of them."_ He intended to stop her, try and explain that she's not an idiot, that the people in red just wanted to demoralize them.

She stared at the ground, taking a long time to draw a small envelope from her pocket, which she offered to the man. Ryan took it, noting that it was already opened. With a nod from Shauna he removed the folded letter from inside and began to read. The general sense was that Shauna had been selected to take part in a special study of new pokemon trainers. Each trainer would be given a rare pokemon and sent to collect research information on pokemon all across the country. The letter called it a great honour, though the wording did strike him as peculiar. Once he'd read the note twice he folded it back up and returned it to the envelope before handing it back. In return she handed him another sheet, this one crumpled in obvious frustration. After carefully peeling the page open, he understood precisely why. It was a printing of an email, from one 'Professor Augustine Sycamore', the same name that signed the bottom of the letter. To a 'Mr. Joseph Armeniox', Ryan had met him before; Shauna's father. The printed email contained both the original message, and Sycamore's response. Mr. Armeniox had reached out to the professor, explaining his daughters grades; including her failing school. She showed interest in almost nothing, having almost no attention span or care for anything beyond the ground she stood on. The things he said about his own daughter disgusted Ryan, such that the printout in his hands shook almost too violently for him to read from it, but he continued. Sycamore's response was as bad, if not worse; detailing how this was a common issue among parents, so much so that a system had been devised to handle such problem children. Often they were given little more than a single starter pokemon and set off on some false quest, usually seeking some pointless goal. The pokemon league sport had grown so much in popularity recently that the problem children have had to stop being sent after it. A new 'knowledge seeking' quest had been devised, requiring children to search for information about Mega Evolution. Perfectly safe and it gets the children out of the house, that was the promise. That promise is what sickened Ryan most. She spoke again when it was clear he had finished reading _"When I arrive at the Professor's Lab in Lumiose city, he'll send me off and call my parents to tell them it's done"_. He shook his head and started to walk past her, heading across the bridge, as he passed the young woman her hand grabbed his arm. _"I want to go. I do. But with those people in red out there I'm worried I won't be able to get to Lumiose. I could always trust you Mr. Cabberin, will you help me?"_

Drooping his shoulders, Ryan turned to face the lass sitting beside him. _"If you're sure?"_ She nodded her response, hopping off the wall of the bridge and taking a couple steps north. Returning back to town would also mean confronting the police. Ryan had no issues with the police, but prison is something he would much rather avoid. He returned to walk with the young lady north through the grassland and trees to a small forest. The forest leads to Santalune city, which lay between here and their destination. Passing under a tree, Ryan was greeted by a small feathered critter. No bigger than the palm of his admittedly large hand, the tiny bird had a red head and black tail. It landed on his shirt, investigating with interest the recently seared flesh of his shoulder. Shauna asked what it was, watching as Ryan slid a finger under its feet and lifting it away from his shirt. _"Looks like a Fletchling"_ he responded, the little red robin tweeting at him. It whistled a little song, bobbing up and down as he moved his finger around. _"Here, don't move"_ He smiled as he lowered the little bird onto Shauna's shoulder, she giggled as it hopped around for a moment. After a little time on her shoulders, the small bird fluttered up to sitting on Ryan's shoulder once again. When he grabbed it around the body with two fingers, it sung happily. It's singing was more pleasant as he moved it through the air, though it ended on a sudden and sharp note when he released it onto a tree branch nearby.


	3. Chapter 3: The Alpha

After a little time on her shoulders, the small red robin fluttered up to sitting on Ryan's shoulder once again. When he grabbed it around the body with two fingers, it sung happily. It's singing was more pleasant as he moved it through the air, though it ended on a sudden and sharp note when he released it onto a tree branch nearby. The young lady beside him perked up, excitedly ready to catch the little bird, pulling a pokeball from her belt and readying for battle. _"Woah, wait a second"_ Ryan interrupted, gently pushing her hand down with his own. "She's not bothering anyone." He pointed out _"You don't know if she has baby's hiding somewhere. It's not fair to snatch her up and take her away against her will now is it?"_ He continued, watching as the young girl became slowly depressed before responding with a meek 'no'.

 _"How do I know when I can catch a pokemon?"_ She queried, a question that caught him off guard but he endeavored to answer as best he could.

 _"There is no way to know really. It's best not to catch a pokemon that you don't already have a bond with."_ The red and gold fox brushed against his leg as he spoke, ushering them to continue along the road to Lumiose City. _"Pokemon don't exist when inside a pokeball"_ She looked confused at this so he continued _"When a pokeball captures a pokemon it turns them into data. and it stores the data."_ She nodded as he spoke, it was usually quite difficult to get her to pay attention to things like this, though if it's to do with pokemon perhaps she'd listen. _"So if the pokeball's memory is damaged or corrupted while the pokemon is in there-"_

 _"The pokemon will be changed"_ She interrupted, clearly she was understanding. _"Or maybe even killed?"_ He nodded, an action which prompted her to unleash her new partner in a flash of light and grab it tightly in a fearful embrace. _"I'm sorry! I don't want you getting hurt. Do you want to come with me?"_ She asked, letting the small pokemon go. Ryan stopped to watch as the small pokemon yipped excitedly and licked her cheek. _"Okay! If we find any pokemon who want to be friends, they can come too!"_ She said excitedly, springing to her feet. A confused look passed over her face though and she looked to Ryan. _"But Mr. Cabberin. How can I make sure no-one steals my friends?"_

Ryan smiled and nodded a moment before responding. _"And that is the only reason to place pokemon in pokeballs. Once a pokemon is tied to one ball, no other pokeball can claim them. You catch them and then let them spend their time outside the ball for safety"_

Further along, the road passed between a collection of trees and began to wind into an ever darkening forest. Cutting beside the forest was a fast running river, stepping in would likely whisk even a man Ryan's size away. _"So here's your first decision on the road of new life"_ he began, not looking down at Shauna beside him. _"Go through the forest, which though faster is much darker and likely has hidden dangers"_ Out of the corner of his eye he watched her turn from looking at him to the path ahead. _"Or, along the riverside, which is slower, but every danger is visible."_

 _"So you want me to choose between the known and the unknown?"_ She looked up at him, the two canines sitting between them staring upward. _"I guess I'll take the known? But let's walk together! I feel like something exciting will happen if I stay by you!"_ Was her final remark, a comment that had the vagrant grumble his hope on the negative.

* * *

It had been a little over an hour, with perhaps another two to go along the riverside before they could reach Santalune city, the first stop before Lumiose, when something caught Shauna's eye. Ryan had noticed her watching something about the dirt and rocks in the area as they sunk each step into the sandy riverbank. _"Oh! Hang on a second, Mr. Cabberin!"_ She excitedly chirped before rushing up to the trees, her Fennekin happily dashing after her. As the Vagrant was about to follow her he noticed a little red robin plomp down on a tree branch to watch them. It's head tilted as he tilted his looking at it. _"Look what I found, Mr. Cabberin! I'll give it to you! I love puzzles, so I watch everything more closely than you might think!"_ Ryan shook his head and looked down at the young woman who held a battered and old pokeball up for him. Surprised he looked around for where it came from or how she noticed it. _"There was a fight, someone got really hurt and hid the pokeball. Maybe you can find the owner?"_

* * *

With the city of Santalune looming in the distance and the sun creeping toward horizon, Ryan's thoughts turned to where his young charge would stay the night. As he was about to ask her what she planned to do, a small clump of brown, stuff, hurtled from near the trees at them. Grabbing Shauna's shoulder he quickly pulled her out of the way, looking over to see who their attacker was. A small red ape stood at the treeline, cackling and scooping up another handful of mud that heated in its hand before it hurled it at them once again. Patting the young woman's shoulder the vagrant grabbed her hand and began to run. Narrowly avoiding the heated, almost liquid, balls of dirt. Glancing over his shoulder Ryan noticed the small robin flitting around the apes head, prompting the large man to skid to a halt. The small ape's hands were alight as it swung at the robin that frightfully pecked at its face. Ryan knocked his knife from his belt to the ground _"Annwn, gimme heat"_ he ordered before running back the way he came to the small fight. A heated paw slammed across his leg, which Ryan ignored as he dropped to his knees and grab the small ape by the throat and forced it to the ground. He could feel it's hands burning through his thick shirt and searing his skin, but the vagrant simply blocked the pain from his mind until a little white hot knife was dropped by his side. Snatching it up he held the edge of the blade to the apes throat before turning it so the heated blade was pressed against the fur. He let out a growling 'ook' as he did so, which immediately send the ape limp. Through the whole moment, Ryan's eyes didn't leave the Pansear's, not even looking at burning red fur or clawed pale yellow arms. When he was sure it had submitted fully, Ryan moved to kneeling over it, and after a moment stood up and allowed it to follow him to standing. The little monkey shifted to stand behind the large man, where it hung it's head in respect to the alpha.

The large man caught up with Shauna again at the entrance to Santalune city; Annwn, the meek ape, and the little red robin in tow. _"Oh! You have some more Pokémon!"_ Shauna commented, looking up from the table where she sat with a couple of her friends he'd seen her with earlier that day. At his arrival the group began to whisper amongst themselves. As he entered the nearest Liquor store, Ryan overheard the young lady come to his rescue. _"So what? He'd never hurt someone he's protecting, that's why they didn't call it murder"_


	4. Chapter 4: Santalune

It was a quiet little store, the man behind the counter looked up at Ryan's entrance. Obviously content Ryan was of age, the man returned to his reading as the homeless man began to quietly browse the store. With three fire pokemon following him, the clerk appeared about to raise an objection, but quietened down at Ryan's quick glare. Itching slightly, Ryan stopped to bend each finger back on the shelves, as he had done at the bridge. With the time to think he decided that a simple bottle of whiskey would likely be the easiest. Snatching a rather high proof bottle from the shelf, the vagrant began to hobble from the store. At this display of blatant theft, without even the sense to hide what he was taking, the clerk finally spoke up. His quiet but demanding tone rang through the vacant store, only to be met by a whisper from the man in filthy clothes. _"Gimme fire"_ words quiet enough to be a whisper, but loud enough the clerk could hear them. Small flames began to flit from the mouth of the man's gold and red dog. _"Fire in a liquor store, not a good mix. Ciao"_ Ryan waved over his shoulder, leaving quietly with his single bottle of whiskey. _"Good boy"_ he whispered once outside, the Fennekin's fire fading as Shauna spotted them.

The young brunette skipped over to the door of the liquor store, her friends nearby gossiping amongst themselves. Ryan considered asking how everything was with them, but if she wanted to tell she would. Smiling, he cracked open the bottle and took a small gulp as she approached. Shauna didn't notice the man in the store behind her friend lock the door quite shakily. Ryan only heard it, and found it somewhat amusing. What else was he to do? He needed something to drink and there was nothing else safe around, even the river was dirty. The young lass, smiling up at him, chimed happily _"I'm staying at the pokemon centre tonight. Apparently that's where all the pokemon trainers stay!"_ Ryan sighed and nodded, shuddering secretly at her misplaced enthusiasm. _"The letter acts as a Trainer ID until I can get to the lab. Where are you staying?"_ Ryan looked around a moment before pointing to the wall of a building under an awning. The young lady was horrified, he couldn't be serious could he? A heavy cloud was drifting from the south. He could sleep in the main room of the center, surely? Why would anyone choose to spend the night in the cold rain? As she began to raise her objections, the tall man lifted his hand, this conversation was over. He would speak to her in the morning.

Once Shauna had passed through the doors of the pokemon center, Ryan slumped down at the edge of the building, right where he had indicated. The small gold and red canine, Annwn, curled up at his feet. The red robin continued to sit on his shoulder, though moved to his finger when it approached. _"You're not going to leave me alone now are you"_ he whispered to the small bird, which hopped down from his finger to investigate his cauterized wound. _"Since you tried to help me by the river, if you stick around I'll call you Leveyr"_ The robin tweeted happily in response, likely simply happy he was talking to it. After he stroked the little birds head a couple times it settled in to snooze on the large shoulder despite the sounds of a number of people shouting at the small red monkey running around. With a clap of his hand and a slap of the ground beside him, Ryan summoned the monkey back to him. _"You're going to either stay close to me, or go home. No middle ground here"_ At his tone, the small red monkey plopped down beside him quietly, eying everyone who appeared interested in approaching. Accustomed to resting on hard stone, no sooner had he placed his head against the wall with his eyes closed, had Ryan succumbed to sleep.

He stood upon the stone path, a thousand people lined up before him. Each person faced the same way, with the others standing to their left and right. The tall man held out his bag to each person as he walked down the line. Many people; young and old, men and women, dropped letters into the bag. Thousands of envelopes drifted peacefully down to lay upon the pile within. One man fought, he refused to release his envelope, struggling in place as chains formed on his ankles and wrists, binding him where he stood. The pain and fear in the man's eyes were as clear and bright as the midday sun, tears began to form as Ryan snatched the letter, dropping it in the bag before continuing down the line. At the end of the thousands of men, women, and children, stood a single little girl. She was not part of the line, but stood at the end of it all the same, her brown hair and giddy smile, not to dissimilar to Shauna's, blinked up at him. The wandering vagrant lay the bag of letters on the ground before her, smiling as the very land around them dissolved to nothing. Much blood was on his hands, blood and pain he had to live with.

A hand gently shook Ryan awake at the shoulder. Opening his eyes, the vagrant looked up at both a happily panting dog and a young woman standing higher than it. Shauna's grin was immense, a little plastic bug's head between three of her fingers. It's two large green eyes more reflective than it's bronzish carapace, it's pincers formed a loop designed to hang the small plastic token off a button or necklace. When she let it go, the little beetlehead swung down on the loop she stored it on. _"I beat the gym"_ she chittered excitedly, _"It wasn't the kind of rush I was told. But I can understand the appeal"_. Ryan smiled and nodded, denying the young ladies outstretched arm. _"Are all gyms themed like that one? It was so cute!"_ She plonked down beside him smiling and obviously quite proud of herself. _"Why don't people like bug pokemon? They're cute!"_ Ryan chuckled, taking the offering the small ape passed to him, chewing on the toasted apple as the young girl beside him continued. _"I won money from those fights, they called them 'trainer dollars', they can only be used for trainer supplies, food and drink right?"_ She seemed to prattle excitedly.

After the quick breakfast, Ryan stood, pulling Shauna up beside him. The next leg of the journey to Lumiose was the northern road from Santalune. Again the path should take about a day. A woman at the exit gate smiled and offered Shauna a pair of roller skates upon seeing the badge hanging on her neck. Commenting on her lack of balance she giggled and turned the offer down. The northern path was flowery and well maintained, the many pokemon a symbol of the thriving ecosystem. _"So how did you enjoy the Trainers room in the center?"_ The tall man snickered, looking down at the lass beside him.

 _"It's a big room with little hammock looking things on the floor. I couldn't sleep"_ She shrugged, following the comment with a mumble how she couldn't sleep, whilst petting the little red robin sitting on her shoulder.

 _"I've always prefered the street myself. Never set foot in a pokemon center."_ Ryan shrugged, the small red monkey climbing his back to sit on his shoulders as they passed a large garden filled with purple and orange flowers.


	5. Chapter 5: Shadows through Shauna's Eyes

The day was long and tiring. The two of them; Shauna and her companion, Mr. Cabberin, trudged pathetically along the long road north to Lumiose city. The day wasn't a complete waste however, running her hand through the flowers as they walked, Shauna found after a while that one blue flower she had brushed against before had continued to drift along with her. Gripping the top of the flower was a small white and green creature with a small crown of yellow dots around it's head. Knowing the Flabébé having seen one before, Shauna squealed in excitement. Her squeak startled the large man beside her, with the small flower hovering above the palm of her hand she turned to face him. The small Pokemon looked up at the faces, drifting closer to her chest at the appearance of the tall man. _"If it happily comes along, no argument here."_ He said with a smile, making her bounce excitedly in place with the flower above her hand.

As the sun set, the two companions breached the gate into the 'city of light', the great and famous Lumiose City. The great city seemed as if it were day, no matter how the sky hated them. An odd smell, ever present but less pungent than Mr. Cabberin, hung about the city. The large stone buildings had beautiful arched windows and often small balconies. An enormous spired building rose from the center of the city, shedding light as a beacon around it. The large man tapped Shauna's shoulder and pointed to the building, explaining that it was Lumiose's Pokemon gym, should she want to try her hand at it. However for now she had an appointment down the road from where they entered, a very old, quite classical building with a sign declaring 'Sycamore labs'. With a pat on the back, Mr. Cabberin left Shauna to enter the building of her own motivation.

The professor's laboratory was certainly once a house, though it's interior maintained gave it a distinctly clinical feel. As the door swung closed it was caught, Serena pushing it open again to allow herself access _"Sorry I'm late"_ She remarked, shutting the door quietly behind her. _"Was visiting my aunt, she's letting me stay the night tonight"_ Shauna nodded, commenting that it was a better idea than the Pokemon center. The two laughed, Serena taking this momentary reprise to show Shauna the many Pokemon she had already caught. Shauna was quite embarrassed to admit that though she had traveled the same distance in the same time, and even had a gym badge, she only owned one Pokemon. The little flower creature sticking to her blouse simply being a random passenger.

After a moment adoring each others cute little Pokemon, Serena asked the woman behind the counter for directions to where they could find the Professor. Her simple response was to request their invitation, their letter of acceptance from the Professor, which Serena proudly presented, while Shauna politely placed hers on the counter. After reading each, the quite distracted receptionist pointed down the only obvious hall. _"Take the stairs to the fourth floor and it's the door on your right."_ The two girls smiled at each other before racing down the hall, Shauna's red and gold dog barking excitedly as it chased them along. The beautiful oak staircase was quickly bounded up despite it stretching four floors. The door on their right at the top of the stairs was open already, from inside they could hear things being hurtled about during what could easily be noticed as a Pokemon battle.

 _"Ha ha! You're too much for me! You're really something, aren't you?"_ The taller man in the room panted, leaning back against a desk after a flash of light signaled the end of a battle. As the two girls entered, he waved them closer _"Fantastic! You're here! You are Shauna and Serena right?"_ The man smiled, straightening his shirt as he stood from the desk. The two girls nodded, Shauna admittedly getting somewhat excited to be in the same room as Professor Sycamore. _"Many thanks for coming all the way from Vaniville Town! I'm Professor Sycamore! It's a pleasure to finally meet you! How is your Pokemon journey going so far? Have you met many different Pokemon? Fantastic! Let me have a quick look at your lineup and see!"_ The man wandered around the room a little, a warm smile and gentle hand gestures as he spoke. As he requested, both Serena and the young boy; Ryan, presented their Pokeballs. Each were proud to show they had five in their possession, embarrassing Shauna greatly when she held out the one Pokeball her Fennekin had come in, the canine in question sitting by her side. The professor's eyebrows narrowed as he looked her up and down, keeping the calming smile all the while. _"Haven't you had much luck? It'd be fantastic if you took another Pokemon with you! Here! Pick one!"_ Shauna was shocked and slightly bewildered. She stuttered as three flashes of mechanical red light revealed three Pokemon; A lizard with a bulb growing from it's back, a bipedal lizard with fire on it's tail, and a large turtle. Looking at the three people in the room with her she blinked for a moment, unsure if they were joking.

 _"I don't know which one to pick! It's so difficult!"_ Shauna whispered confused and slightly upset. The older girl's hand rested on her shoulder as Serena encouraged her. Being told she'd be with this Pokemon for a long time both frightened and excited Shauna as she knelt down in front of the Pokemon. Looking at each of them she holds out her arms by her side, palms facing away and shoulders lowered. After about a minute, the bipedal lizard wandered forward and placed it's arms around her waist. Avoiding the fiery tail, Shauna wrapped her arms around the little lizard's back. _"Hello, Charmander. I'm glad to meet you. I hope you'll come to trust and like me. I promise that I'll take good care of you."_ She hugged it tight, only letting go when a little nose nudged her side. _"Oh, this is Kinglii. I hope you too get along!"_ After wiping a couple tears from her eyes she wrapped her arms around both of them, a little flower sitting in her hair. Looking up she watched as Ryan took the Pokeball for the turtle and Serena took the one for the final Pokemon.

After a few minutes getting to know the new Pokemon, the four people were met by two more. Tierno and Trevor strolled through the door excitedly. Both boys greeted the professor, and were met by a warm smile and handshake. Trevor looked around at the others as the professor hopped up to sit upon his desk. _"Wonderful! Everyone's all here."_ The professor grinned at them triumphantly. _"So now that we're all here, I'd like to say a few words."_ Shauna watched as both Tierno and Trevor rolled their eyes, grabbing nearby chairs for each person. She politely declined hers, preferring to sit on the floor with the two Pokemon hugging her. _"Be the best Trainer you can be!"_ He rubbed his hands together, eager to begin his speech. _"At the same time, remember to have fun traveling with your Pokemon!"_ The Charmander and Fennekin shuffled to watch where Shauna was watching, remaining in her arms. _"Also, I want to ask for your help in solving the Kalos region's biggest Pokemon mystery: the secret and potential of Mega Evolution, a new kind of Evolution that occurs in battle!"_ Shauna sighed quietly to herself, this is where it ceased to be as amazing or whimsical. This was something that was already quite well understood, it wasn't a mystery or an enigma. Professor Sycamore figured a lot of this out many years ago, there was even rumours of a human who could mega evolve. This was simply some simply little quest to send the kids accepted into this 'program' on, if they didn't want to do the Pokemon league challenge.

The professor's spiel continued for a further half an hour, the darkness outside almost impossible to note for the lights of the city. He spoke whimsically and excitedly, many of the others sharing his enthusiasm as the time drew on. When finally he declared the lesson over, he handed each one of them a small card with their picture on it, apparently taken during his talk. Shauna's Pokemon license showed the Charmander, Fennekin and Flabébé, along with her name; date of birth and several other details. As they left, Serena approached her excitedly _"I can't wait to be a Pokemon master"_ , her excitement instantly rubbing off on Shauna. _"Oh, do you have a place to stay tonight?"_ She asked suddenly, as the two walked through the well lit streets. At the shaking of Shauna's head she smiled _"Great! Come with me and stay in my aunt's spare room. It'll be better than the pokemon center!"_


	6. Chapter 6: Shadows through Ryan's Eyes

The day was long and tiring. The two of them; Ryan and his young companion, Shauna, trudged pathetically along the long road north to Lumiose city. The day wasn't a complete waste however, as she had run her hand through the flowers while they walked, Shauna found after a while that one blue flower she had brushed against before had continued to drift along with her. Gripping the top of the flower was a small white and green creature with a small crown of yellow dots around it's head. Knowing the Flabébé having seen one before, Shauna squealed in excitement. Her squeak had not startled him, only hurt his ear, with the small flower hovering above the palm of her hand she turned to face him. The small Pokemon looked up at the faces, drifting closer to her chest at the appearance of the tall man. _"If it happily comes along, no argument here."_ He said with a smile, making her bounce excitedly in place with the flower above her hand.

As the sun set, the two companions breached the gate into the 'city of light', the great and famous Lumiose City. The great city seemed as if it were day, no matter how the sky hated them. An odd smell, ever present but less pungent than Mr. Cabberin, hung about the city. The large stone buildings had beautiful arched windows and often small balconies. An enormous spired building rose from the center of the city, shedding light as a beacon around it. The Ryan tapped the young girl's shoulder and pointed to the building, explaining that it was Lumiose's Pokemon gym, should she want to try her hand at it. However for now she had an appointment down the road from where they entered, a very old, quite classical building with a sign declaring 'Sycamore labs'. With a pat on the back, the man left Shauna to enter the building of her own motivation.

Only one store near the professor's laboratory seemed to still be open at this time. A fabric awning covered the entrance as a somewhat bored man stood inside the door. Having only a little money to his name, and not seeing many other places he could get food for those following him, Ryan entered the Café Soleil. The elegant store was small but well lit, a collection of stools stood at the counter, while more personal two person tables were scattered around the room. Only about six people were in the café, four of them were staff, and one of the remaining was Ryan. He stuck out like a sore thumb, a long ragged and filthy trench coat over a tattered hoodie and burnt and torn slacks. The only other patron in the place was a woman not much younger than Ryan, with green and brown hair and a large black and gold serpent wrapped around the legs of her stool. The man by the door turned to the vagrant, a hand over his nose and mouth in both disgust and surprise. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The man shakingly whispered up at him. The vagrant was actually insulted by this, demanding to know why he had to leave despite not starting any sort of issue. _"I am sorry sir"_ the fellow stuttered _"But we have a standard we must maintain."_ This only enraged the towering man who began to shout about indecency and discrimination.

Hearing the commotion, the woman at the counter slipped from her stool to stride over to them. She was taller than average, though the top of her head still barely reaching Ryan's eye level. _"Hey. Hey!"_ she growled, her footfalls light but vicious and striking. _"That is my wallet you're messing with here, kid."_ She grumbled to the staff member, placing her arm around behind Ryan to grab his far shoulder. He didn't know this woman, they'd never met before, so her coming to his defense made no sense at all. _"He's with me. I told you when I came into this lovely little cafe that I was expecting company - and you're denying your customer?"_ Her words seemed to attack the man, she hissed and spit, but to be honest; Ryan found it quite interesting. The canine beside him was unsure whom it should be growling at? The woman with the viper words or the man she was spitting at? _"If you aren't careful, you're bound to lose quite a few customers with that attitude and policy. There've been worse people in here besides."_ The Serpent from the stool she had been sitting at, unwrapped itself to slither over. _"You're wearing those shoes with that pair of pants? Who taught you how to judge other's clothing and appearances?"_ she was on eye level with this man, but his stance and posture definitely showed her well above him. In a quick hiss of red light, a large black and white ursine creature joined the room with them. Ryan, the woman, the snake and Ryan's Pokemon all took a moment to stare at this huge imposing beast as the waiter once again demanded Ryan's exit. With a word of command the woman's serpent retrieved her bag that she may leave also. The man asked her about her bill, only to be shot down one final time by the woman. _"As far as I'm concerned, I am not a customer, as you are forcing me to leave. That and the shoddy excuse for service you gave hardly counts as worthy of a tip. Therefore, I am leaving."_ A brush of the pads of her fingertips against her denim shorts was all it took to encourage a menacing hiss from her serpentine companion, sharp bladed tail glint in the soft sunlight coming through the glass window. _"I understand there isn't a problem, sir?"_ the woman asked quietly with a hint of a threatening growl barely masked by cold politeness.

Ryan's hand moved to the small of the woman's back, gently turning her. He watched her green hair leave the building before he did, patting the red ape's head while it held the door for them. _"I appreciate that, but you didn't need to disturb your own meal for me."_ he commented once the door had swung loudly shut behind them. She laughed, petting the small red robin that had landed on her shoulder. It had been her pleasure, she told him, her day would have been nothing but boring if he had not wandered into that cafe. With a smile she handed him a canteen from her pocket, commenting that he'd not eaten or drunk anything for a while from what she could tell. _"Boring is never my intention. Thank you tremendously"_ Ryan took a single swig before handing the drink back, his hand returning to the small of her back. _"So what are your plans now, and may I escort you?"_

She paused in her footsteps abruptly, the dirtier of the two almost bumping right into her shoulder. _"I also can't stand the smell of Trubbish - which is exactly what you smell and look like."_ The short but sly woman grinned at the vagrant's taken expression at the comment. _"Tell ya what. You can crash at my place and shower, and then you can keep me company at dinner or something in return. Sound good?"_ She paused before continuing, cutting off his response. _"Oh, and I greatly dislike being told 'no.' Just thought I'd throw that out there."_ She said lightly with a dismissive flick of her wrist, grinning a little

Across the road stood a man in a long rigid suit, a strange blend of a a tuxedo and a trench coat that had almost no movement in it at all. The neck and chest line of the vest was lined with a thick fur pelt that coiled under itself. The red trimming of the collar, sleeves and hem, being both the primary contrast of the jet black suit, and perhaps the exact colour of his hair. The man's mane was tongues of fiery hair, whipped back in an impressive explosion. His facial hair was the greatest testament to this man's sheer attention to detail, a perfect line of hair reaching from his jawline to create a red arrowhead beneath his skull. A horrible tragedy that despite this man's efforts to appear the best he can; he was cursed with perhaps the most phallic nose possible. Every muscle in Ryan's arms tensed when he noticed the man, who was quite confused at seeing Ryan standing near him. _"Well, well. Ryan Cabberin. Quite a surprise to see you here, has it been two years already?"_ The man maintained as calm a tone as he could, approaching the group who stood opposite him. A concerted effort to create the most intimidating and masculine walk he could, and prevent it turning into a crease-less waddle. Snarling, Ryan simply spat the number three before the man continued. _"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"_ He bowed to the woman at Ryan's side, _"My name is Lysandre-"_ she cut him off, snarling with slightly less malice than her companion that he, the man in black, owned possibly the brightest and most obnoxious cafe in the entire city. A feat in and of itself. After basically spitting back at the woman to keep unfashionable opinions like that to herself, the man fixed his outfit before turning back to the filthy vagrant. _"My offer still stands Ryan. My R and D department could always use a mind like yours"_ he smiled warmly. The mans hand, embraced by a fingerless glove, waited expectantly for Ryan's to join it. The moment looked almost frozen in time for a couple seconds before Lysandre continued _"You're only qualified for two things Cabberin and with your recent history, one of them isn't really an option anymore is it?"_

Ryan's eyes moved from the hand, to the piercing blue eyes on level with his own. _"I'd rather spend my life rolling in the gutters than work for you Lysandre."_ the left of his mouth twitching to prevent curling in a snarl. He didn't need to growl, the Fennekin between his feet was doing enough of that. The songbird on his shoulder made not a note, and the ape stood meekly to Ryan's right, staring up at the man whose hair made the shape of a toothy maw attempting to swallow his face. _"Now leave, before I decorate your face with a natural red paint"_ His fist clenched, an act that easily drew the eye of many around as the distinct cracking of glass could be heard between his fingers. Though no drop spilled from the splintering bottle. _"I mean it Lysandre. I expect Mable won't be too thrilled to hear why you need thirty minutes more makeup."_ The man's uneasy glare broke away as he adjusted his plumage and strutted away silently, head held high as he waddled. Suppressing a smile, Ryan turned to his female companion. _"Sorry about that, if my company is still desired-"_ he bowed with one hand stretched to the side, pointing the way they had been heading _"- then please lead the way"_. The woman laughed openly, strutting down the street with the tall man in tow.


	7. Chapter 7: Another Morning

The apartment was trashed; the couch had been tilted on the arm rather the back as expected, glass littered the floor around the entry to the bathroom and the few chairs that existed in the building were strewn about haphazardly. As Ryan finished the two bowls of porridge, spiced with whiskey as little other food was present in the place, the young woman with brown and green hair picked herself up from the windowsill. With a towel wrapped around her, the woman staggered into the kitchen, leaning over the counter to begin on her bowl of breakfast. Ryan's grin would not be hidden as he looked the woman over. _"That's probably going to scar you know."_ he chuckled, the woman's face reddened in response.

 _"Good"_ She grinned back, eyes locking with his. Her spoon traced small circles through the thick alcoholic broth. _"Oh"_ She smirked, Ryan's eyebrows raising in response _"You still owe me for that mirror."_ the woman, Chuey, pointed over her shoulder with the spoon at the fragments of glass littering the floor.

Ryan chuckled, looking past the lady's towel covered rump to the shards in the doorway behind her. The black serpent slithering half confused through the fragments making him chuckle even more. _"Well"_ Ryan ate a bit more of his odd porridge before properly responding, pointing with his spoon. _"Your ass, not mine."_ The two smiled, looking away from each other for the remainder of the meal. With two fingers, Ryan pointed to the small ape and little red robin, then to the glass fragments, which the two Pokemon set about shuffling into a small pile.

A small wooden stick poked Ryan's hip, prompting him to look down. The first thing he noticed though was that one of Annwn's paws was on the counter beside him. The canine beside him was standing on it's rear legs, wobbling slightly as it looked up at him. The creature's fur was just as matted as always, jutting out at bizarre points and creating the illusion of a grand Dracula-esc collar or electric parachute pants. The fiery fur spouting from the creatures ears seemed alight despite it's darker shade. The Pokemon barked twice, happily grumbling as it's masters hand came down to playfully ruffle the fur atop it's head. But when Ryan's hand pulled back, the Pokemon pointed its stick at the ground behind him and barked again. Looking around, all he could see was his shadow, stretching long for the low angled light through the window. The vagrant shrugged, watching his shade turn back to the dark shape of the bowl before he did so himself. Eyes furrowing a moment as he looked at the bowl of whiskey and oats.

Ryan blinked dismissively, certain he hadn't just seen what he was sure he'd just seen. Chuey was too busy leaning forward to try and see Annwn by the man's side to care what was confusing him. However, both became quiet confused at the sudden darkness they found themselves in. The intense light that always streamed in from outside her window had suddenly shut off, not even sunlight was shining into the room. By the light of small flames leaping from the Braixen's mouth, the two staggered to the window. An enormous storm had rolled over Lumiose city, many rapid bolts of current jumping from the sky to the rooftops lighting the city for the briefest of moments. For perhaps a second or less between two flashes, the window was lit solely by the fires behind them, turning the glass into a mirror. For the instant between strikes, Chuey stood beside a tall gold and brown creature, four wicked horns jutting from it's head and strange brown shapes across it's torso. This peculiar image never again appeared when the sky was dark again. Without wanting to wear out his welcome, Ryan smiled and thanked the viper lady for the shower and meals, before leading his small band of Pokemon out of the apartment. Neither he nor his hostess could remember where the spoon he'd eaten with had gone. Indeed, even the spoon was not use to these strange fabric surroundings it bounced around in.

Stepping from the apartment building, Ryan looked left and right down the bizarrely dark city streets. The faces in the windows had a strange expression, as if some of them had never seen the shade before. The silence of the city was soothing, broken only by the occasional rumbling of thunder. But it wouldn't be so peaceful for long, either the storm would leave or the power would return, in either case people would swarm the streets of light once again. Following the street to the large central tower, Ryan circled it looking for light in any of the exit gates from the city. Of course the gates were quite a distance from the tower, but any light would be a beacon in this storm. All the gates had their own light source, and only one of them was not on. The alley that led to the gate was among the narrowest in the city, but brought him out directly opposite the large entryway, where the young lady he'd been traveling with was talking with a friend of hers. Spotting him, Shauna waved Ryan over. She gave her friend a goodbye hug before skipping over to the tall vagrant. Seeing her there confused him, prompting Ryan to ask how she knew he would come to this gate. Shauna laughed before replying _"The powers out! Any trainers entering or leaving the city would prefer a gate with a little light"_ He nodded affirmation, still not sure how she knew he would come to the light-less one. _"You don't like crowds. You'd want to leave the city to avoid the crowd, while avoiding crowds. See, I do pay attention!"_ He didn't argue, she certainly knew him better than he expected for only two days outside of school. _"Oh. The professor_ gave _me a new Pokemon"_ The small bipedal lizard poked its head out from behind her leg. The large man did his best to ignore the little creature as it was nervously ducking its head back behind the young girls leg, doing a terrible job of hiding itself. Annwn too hid himself behind Ryan's leg, either mimicking or teasing the young Charmander by copying it's nervous peeking, Ryan was unsure exactly which.

Once Shauna had finished fawning over Annwn, the small group passed through the only dark passage into Lumiose city. Well, the only public one at least. On the other side of the great wall, Shauna and Ryan were stopped in their tracks by a pair of large cyan wolves. The wolves stood upon their rear paws, with a large spike jutting from their forepaws. _"Today the day of two feet or something?"_ Ryan grumbled, the little red ape beside him leaning forward with it's hands on the ground in response. The wolves only stood about four feet off the ground, though still they towered over many of the other Pokemon around them. As the two wolves approached the small group, a woman's call stopped them in their tracks.

 _"Wait! Lucario!"_ She shouted, a woman of average build and height. She had long blonde hair leaking out of a horned white riding helmet. One of the two wolves stepped closer, it's head lowering and sliding forward as it sniffed loudly. Annwn stepping out from behind the vagrant's recently cleaned legs. _"Sorry about that! Are you OK?"_ the woman in white brushed her hair out of her face. _"I was doing some special training with my Lucario when all of a sudden they dashed off."_ Ryan nodded, explaining that it wasn't a problem. The one wolf stepped closer, eying the Braixen moving from behind the large man to behind the young lady. _"Hey, Lucario!"_ The woman became distracted, looking at the cyan canine's intense stare. _"What's going on with you? Did you get drawn in by this girl's aura or something?"_ The simple act of Ryan looking down at the wolf seemed to startle it. The creature snarled as viciously as it could, though something about the man's glare simply cut the snarl short. _"Huh. Well, it seems Lucario likes you!"_ The woman commented, Shauna asking if she was really sure. _"See, Lucario can read people's auras. I guess something in your aura has made this one take a liking to a stranger!"_ She smiled, though the tall man didn't appreciate her tone, she had this strange condescension. _"Oops! I was on such a roll, I forgot to even introduce myself! I'm Korrina, the Shalour City Gym Leader."_ Shauna laughed commenting that they may see each other again, not noticing how close the canine's snout was getting to Annwn, its stare intense. As Annwn lent away, the creature leaned in closer. The cyan head flew back however after being wholloped on the snout by a fire hardened stick.


	8. Chapter 8: Not the Hero

Contrary to what he suspected, it had only taken a gentle snarl to have the strange and pretentious woman skate away frightened. With that over, Ryan and his young charge continued along the road. With Shauna standing on his right, Ryan's first thought was that it was she who held his hand. Sighing, he looked over, ready to explain to eighteen year old girl standing more than an arm length away from him- His eyes narrowed in confusion for a second before Ryan gradually lowered his head. He blinked a couple times, the small fox Annwn barking happily up at him, gripping his hand in it's paw. His thick glove masking the shape of the hand holding it, but being thin enough that he could tell it was being held. Shauna however was blushing, suppressing the 'naww' he could see almost etched on her face. _"Oh hush you"_ his eyes narrowed, hiding his small smile as he looked back to the road. _"So."_ He searched for some way to move the focus away from Annwn. _"Where'd you sleep last night?"_ She laughed again, drifting off to just a pleasant smile, commenting that she spent the night with a friend. When pressed, she revealed it was just a sleepover with her friend Serena. The two chatted and hung out, very little sleep apparently occurred as they were having just too much fun talking about pokemon and where they plan to go or do. Ryan didn't pry, as this conversation didn't involve him, but it was nice to see he wasn't the only one to have a good time the night prior.

Ryan was somewhat confused, not even two hours had passed and already they were nearing the edge of a small town. The town was surrounded by either half a stone wall, or a large and unfinished rock fence, Ryan was unsure what to call it. Passing through the- gate? hole? into the town, the vagrant suppressed a laugh. This was Camphrier Town. He'd read about it and it's rich history, but had never seen the place. For a town with five centuries of history, the twelve buildings looked a little meager to him. The only impressive landmark was the large mansion set upon a small hill and surrounded by a moat. The large gothic building towered above anything else, the top of the front door being higher even than the pile of rocks that surrounded the village. _"Mr. Cabberin?"_ Shauna refused to call him by his name, sweet but a little annoying. Without releasing the little paw, the tall man looked over with a questioning 'humph'. _"I've wanted to ask, when did you get all cleaned up"_ He laughed tiredly at her remark, glancing into the water of the moat to see what she saw. For the first instant, not even the blink of an eye, it wasn't Ryan looking up at him from the surface of the water. But shaking his head he knew he'd just been seeing things.

The image of a man walking along the small wooden bridge toward the manor reflected up at Ryan from the water's edge. Looking over he watched as an excited man, about half the size of the other, sprinted from the other side of 'town' toward the fellow. Glancing around, Ryan noticed Shauna watching the man as well. Shauna's Fennekin and Ryan's Pansear were ahead, already approaching the two men, being followed shortly by the two humans. _"Sir!"_ The man called, getting close enough to the bridge to be heard. _"Sir! It's back"_ he wheezed, the other man looking confused for a second before his eyes widened in understanding. _"It's that time of year"_ the obviously exhausted man continued, waving for the portly fellow to follow him, unwittingly signalling for the vagrant and lass to follow as well.

A little west of the town, the river that passed Vaniville town finally reached a large lake. But the meandering flow was drying up, a large weight had simply slammed itself in the mouth of the river, damming it up. After drawing nearer, Shauna was the first of the two to understand what they were looking at. The huge mass was mostly black with two large white spots. What might have seemed to be cracked rocks or maybe thick moss was instead fur. A creature the size of a semi truck, was slammed down in the start of the river. _"Here we go again."_ The portly man growled, looking down from the now pointless bridge. _"It's sleeping so soundly, the end of the world wouldn't wake it."_ The man simply closed his eyes, pressing his head into his crossed arms on the rail of the bridge. _"It's practically a mountain, right?"_ His mumbling could barely be heard over the creature's rumbling snores. _"I can't even use the Pokeflute"_ The man's hands grabbed the rails and his head lifted slightly. Seeing this man getting more aggravated, Ryan stepped in, asking exactly why the man cannot use the Pokeflute; an instrument who'se playing is known to wake anything. _"I had to sell it to the_ king _of Parfum Palace. To pay off my debts to him"_ The man's voice shook, in many way's Ryan recognized. The vagrant could see the use of a river, and if this creature refused to move it would cause a serious problem in very little time.

The Pokeflute, a musical instrument that can wake anything, had been sold by it's owner to pay his taxes. The driveway to the building where it now resided was longer than Camphrier Town itself. Large trees hung their long branches over the road, creating a long green hallway, walled by large and well maintained hedges. The gate sitting at the end of this road was grand and gold, a glimmering light in the darkness of the passage leading to it. The guard standing beside the gate snapped his head back up and eyes open, struggling to keep them there as he lent on the wall at the side of the massive gold structure. Ryan's appearance, in his long and tattered trench coat, was an amusing contrast to this short man in well pressed black and gold clothes. The man yawned, mumbling something about the _great_ Parfum Palace serving as a museum or something or other. _"Need to talk to the man in charge"_ Ryan said, looking at the windows of the grand castle behind the shimmering bars. Without missing a beat, the guard requested the entrance fee, one thousand dollars. _"Two questions. First, how much do you get paid?"_ Ryan hadn't turned his head away from the castle, watching as the robin that had been following him this far glided around the parapets before swooping back toward him. The guard's reply was something meager, little more than a grocery packer in Ryan's experience. _"Second, does the entry fee cover your medical care?"_ Shauna was shocked at what she was hearing, and appalled at her compatriot when the gates swung open at the guard's button press. Holding out his arm in front of him, Ryan was not surprised at the significantly heavier weight of the red eagle now perched upon him. As the lass beside him began to express her distaste, Ryan cut her off. _"Stay here. Annwn, keep her outside."_ The little Braixen saluted the tall man, edging close and taking Shauna's hand in it's own.

As the large wooden doors swung shut loudly behind him, Ryan was greeted by a frightened and quite portly older gentleman who rounded the corner to him. At first shuddering at the simple sight of Ryan, the man began to beg him. He pleaded to the tall man for help. _"What's wrong"_ Ryan's eyes furrowed, hands on the man's shoulders as he looked around. The terrified man cried out, explaining how horribly worried he was, he could not find his precious Furfrou, a breed of canine Pokemon. With an eyebrow raised, Ryan looked into the man's eyes. _"Are you the owner of this place?"_ The man nodded, pressing his head into Ryan's recently cleaned shirt to wipe his tears away. Leaning to the right on one foot, Ryan could see out the window and into the huge acreage this man would call his back yard. A small white canine with a large fluffy tail and blink collar was bounding through the grass. Turning the man around forcefully he pointed out the window. _"That your dog?"_ He sighed, the short man's muscles relaxed and he smiled. With a sigh of relief, the man regained his composure and subsequently ordered Ryan to retrieve the animal. _"It's a dog"_ He snarled back. _"In your_ back _yard"_ the man was startled to be shoved by this unnamed guest. _"Where he belongs!"_ The wide eyed expression was different this time, not fear but shock. How could someone be so indignant? How could someone- When Ryan roared his distaste, the man stumbled backwards over his feet, running through the courtyard door and out toward the canine.

After the man rounded the corner out of sight, Ryan approached the small display case marked 'PokeFlute'. Smashing the glass, he drew the flute from it's display, dropping it and a spoon that had been laying in the case, into his pocket. Though there was a significant amount of blood, Ryan didn't care, the cuts weren't deep. Hiding his cut hand behind his back he stepped back out the entrance. Shauna immediately asked what happened, Annwn releasing her hand with a wave of Ryan's good hand. _"A little difference of world view. I just didn't want the people in there to associate us and form an unjust opinion of you"_ He smile courteously, even bowing slightly. The slightly narrowed eyes told him she didn't buy it. _"Go on in, it's really very nice in there, you'll like it."_ He smiled, waving as she entered the large building with her three Pokemon tagging after her. As the tall man marched down the road back toward Camphrier, the lowering sun set a golden glow upon the east wall of the alley, Ryan watching as his shadow walked ahead on it, looking around nervously. His arm had slowly stopped bleeding, much due to the help of the small ape, who'se hands ran across the scars when told _"Gimme Heat"_. One thing great about training Pokemon with similar abilities, many can learn simply by the example of others. Arriving at the bridge, the vagrant shook his head as he watched the young boy, also called Ryan, tossing pokeball after pokeball at the huge creature. _"That won't work"_ He yelled, noticing the young lady standing near him shaking her head. Serena sighed, whispering that she'd been telling him that. _"Pokemon with enough bulk have to be physically injured and psychologically drained before the pokeball can even begin to process them."_

It was only when the young man commented on it that Serena noticed. Before he knew it, Ryan was being grabbed at by the arms of three Pokemon and one young woman. Annwn and the ape attempted to pull the assailants off, but backed off at Ryan's order. _"What happened?"_ Serena growled, gripping Ryan by his collar and staring up into his eyes. _"Where is Shauna and what happened to your arm?"_ She shook him slightly. _"Tell me!"_ The tall man smiled, gently prying her hands off his collar with his unblemished arm. He explained that the wounds have nothing to do with her, but that Shauna was likely happily enjoying Parfum Palace. Withdrawing her Pokemon, Serena jogged off up the road to the 'museum'.


	9. Chapter 9: Snorlax

A portly man, the owner of the PokeFlute, lent over the railing of the bridge. His head in his hands as he stared infuriated at the sleeping giant below him. Turning slowly, the man looked over at Ryan. _"Oh it's you"_ the man seemed somewhat disoriented in the setting sunlight. _"Did you actually manage to borrow the Poke Flute?"_ he mumbled back, perking up only slightly at the appearance of the small instrument in the vagrants hand. _"Thanks"_ he sighed, taking the flute from the elder Ryan's extended hand. _"Snorlax can be grumpy when it wakes up- it might attack!"_ Ryan nodded, Annwn and the Ape stepping up on his sides. _"I'll play the flute right now, but are you ready to stop it?"_ The man stepped off the bridge, the young Ryan taking his place watching over the huge creature below. _"Feels nice to have this flute in my hands again. OK, I guess I'll start by playing Chinese Twilight by Klaus Schønning"_ The flute had a strange echoing sound that relaxed every muscle in the vagrant's body. The tall man watched as the red eagle lowered to sit upon his shoulder, and the little hand holding his slacked away slightly.

After about three minutes, the huge mass began to stir. Its eyes fluttered open and its mouth stretched wide. The echoing yawn almost drowned out the melody being played right beside the fellow in the trench coat. When the creature roared though, the portly man dropped the flute as he fell back in fright. The large beast pulled itself to standing, apparently ignoring the tremendous force of the water rushing around it. Though its eyes hadn't opened, the beast looked straight at the boy on the bridge, growling and reaching for him with it's massive paws.

The creature's roar rocked the bridge, its huge claws ripping through the young boy's chest. The lad coughed hard, every breath he took bringing bloody bubbles to the surface through the cuts. In a quick flash of light from the lad's pokeball appeared a taller somewhat humanoid looking toad, with long arms and a longer mane of clear bubbles. The boy grasped at the blue amphibian which immediately wrapped its arms around him and began to drag him off the bridge. As they moved, it was only narrowly able to avoid some downward strikes by the huge creature, saving it's master from the fate of the splintering and shattering wooden bridge. The huge hairy monster attempted to pull itself up onto the walkway, crushing and splitting the bridge as it did. With the wood simply peeling away under the paws the creature moved to a bank, lifting itself up onto the rocky edge. Leaving it's massive form looming over the small boy, who lay clutching at his bleeding chest. Ryan's attention snapped away from the battle for a moment, almost yelling at the two men from Camphrier. _"Get a doctor or something, don't just fucking stand there!"_ He roared, not quite as intimidating as the beast, but fairly close.

Only one of the two men ran. The flutist remained, staring at the horrifying image of the creature bending over to rip the boy apart. _"Hold this"_ Ryan commanded, shoving the bottle of whiskey into the flutist's arms. The man blinked confused for a second, looking down at the bottle in his arms. Ryan didn't wait for any answer, clicking his fingers once and pointing at his feet before charging across the rickety and breaking bridge. Annwn, on two legs and holding the stick out as a weapon in front of him, and the Fire headed red ape ran beside him. _"Gimme him, over there"_ Ryan shouted, pointing to the boy on the ground in front of the huge beast and then to the flutist across the river. While Annwn and the Ape grabbed the boy, Ryan's whistle grabbed the attention of the bird. _"Leveyr. Distract the frog"_ the eagle rushed away, swooping and rushing around the head of the long armed amphibian, keeping it from stopping the other two taking the young boy away. The beast however was not so accommodating, reaching down to snatch any of the banquet of pokemon in front of it. Its arms were halted though, as the skin on its back was pulled taut. Ryan's hands gripped the fur on the creature's back as it writhed and pulled away. Many pokemon in the grass around them shuddered and recoiled back into the grass at the massive beasts roar of pain. The fur on the back of the Snorlax pulled more the more it moved. Ryan was thrown about as it shook him, furiously trying to toss him away. Two pokeballs lept from his coat in the swinging, a red and white one, and a strange and somewhat unique and scratched up bronze and black one.

With it's massive paw wrapping around his chest, the Snorlax ripped the vagrant off it's back. Bringing him up to it's mouth, the huge hairy beast bit down on the man's arm, swallowing most of it's length into it's huge maw. Letting out a strange growl that didn't sound overly pained, Ryan bit down on the back of the huge furred neck. The harder the beast bit down on his upper arm, the harder Ryan bit into its neck. As blood began to trickle from the side of Ryan's mouth, the huge beast let out a painful cry. With the opportunity presented, Ryan yanked his arm from it's mouth and jumped down off the creature's chest. With a glance at the bridge, Ryan noticed the ape getting close to him and Annwn still toddling along across the rickety planks toward him. The young boy was safe on the other side, whiskey being poured onto his wounds by the portly flutist. In some grass nearby sat the red and white pokeball, but Ryan ignored it; frantically searching for the black and bronze one. A lion cub stood nearby, the metallic pokeball sitting in it's mouth as it happily stared down at him. Without a word the large man snatched the ball back, stuffing it in his pocket. The massive paw that had almost struck him instead being set alight by ball of fire hurtled by the ape nearby.

With the eagle gliding back, having apparently lead the frog to it's master, an idea sparked in Ryan's mind. **_"If this works, something tells me I'm going to have to come up with a faster way"_** He pointed to each of the pokemon; the crimson eagle, the ape and Annwn, saying 'you' each time. _"Gimme fire"_ he smiled, rolling onto his back. Ryan pointed up at the face of the huge Snorlax looming over him. Even the creature above him seemed to know something was the matter with the tone the final word was spoken in. _"There"_ the vagrant grinned. Annwn reacted immediately, hurtling small balls of fire at the creature. The eagle understood the quickest after, circling above and dropping burning spitballs down on the creature's fur. Seeing the others act, the ape and the lion cub began to send their own bouts of flame at the creature. **_"That's it, next lesson is bombardment"_** The vagrant chuckled to himself, scurrying across the grass to grab the red and white pokeball and store it with the bronze one in his coat.

The beast snatched Ryan up, holding him out as a shield against the bouts of fire from his pokemon. Three fireballs singed the vagrant's back before the bombardment was silenced at his moans of pain. The Snorlax's roar was almost a triumphant laugh. _"That's it"_ the vagrant growled, reaching his arm in to slice the palm of his hand on the creature's sharpest tooth. Pulling out only an instant before the jaws slammed shut, Ryan reached around and slammed his palm down on the bite mark across the furry neck. _"I've had about enough of you"_ he snarled, glaring into its eyes. _"Sorry big guy, but down you go"_ The beast shook its head wearily, it's eyes fluttering shut and then snapping open again. Ryan was dropped like a sack of bricks, crumpling onto the ground and drawing his knife. The large creature staggered backward, clutching at its neck and grumbling painfully. The footsteps shook the ground around it as the beast staggered to the lake, slumping down on the grassy bank. Ryan held his knife out by the handle toward Annwn _"Gimme heat."_ he exhaled, watching as the bipedal fox took the blade into its mouth for a moment. When the knife was handed back, the blade was pressed against the slice on his palm, searing the flesh.


	10. Chapter 10: Aluminium Candles

Holding his arm in pain, Ryan looked to the east and west. The rising moon silhouetting the group of paramedics and police heading from the small town toward them. Certainly he needed medical attention, but the police are also looking for him. Wincing, the large man rose, whistling once before turning to stagger westward. At the whistle, the small group of pokemon that had been following him, joined Ryan's side. Even the little lion cub followed intrigued. The large lake to their right sported a strange castle nestled upon an isle in the center, a large bridge reaching to the mainland. The castle bore no banners or signs, but Ryan recognized it. That was the Battle Chateau, a highly exclusive club for the fabulously wealthy. The better a pokemon trainer you were once you obtained membership, the higher your rank. Rank was often measured using antiquated noble titles, just as the Battle Barracks used antiquated military ranks. Remembering his pain and almost collapsing for it, Ryan felt Annwn's little arms propping him up, struggling against the weight. After the Braixen barked to the others, the Ape held the man from the other side, and two large talons grabbed his shoulders to pull him up. He could feel the heat on Annwn's hands as they rubbed over his cut's and bruises. The warmth helped his blood to flow more naturally, and seared his wounds where they were open to the air.

After stumbling up some small stairs, Ryan collapsed only a couple meters into a small cave. The sign nailed to the rock beside the entrance read 'Connecting cave/Zubat roost'. It was darker than when most people passed through, with the moonlight shining very dull and only about a meter in the entrance. Slumping down against the rock, Ryan pulled a small cord from where he'd found himself. The small golden coin spun on the end of the short but thick cord. _"Annwn, Come"_ he whispered, the fox trotting over more steadily on it's little legs. It lowered its head as the vagrant silently slid the amulet coin over it's ears to sit on it's neck. The Braixen gave a happy little bark before settling to sit on Ryan's right side, eying the other pokemon as the man did. The Lion cub watched Ryan curiously for a moment, the mane atop it's head glowing red and shedding a small ring of light around it. It almost looked like furry fire. With his legs outstretched in front of him and his back against a wall, Ryan tapped his thigh. The hawk settled down between his knees and the cub inched a little closer, sniffing at the man's outstretched hand; covered partially by fingerless wooly gloves. After he pet it a little, the small pokemon curled up by his leg. _"Tomorrow, I'll have a go at seeing how hard it is to teach each of you things. But first I need to rest."_

Standing by the lake edge, Ryan peered over at his reflection. In the water, looking up at him was not his own face. The face of a creature unique and strange, thin and yellow. The longer he stared the more it seemed to distort, becoming more and more like the vagrant looking down. Ryan watched as the ripples passing the creature shimmered clothes onto it. At first a white button shirt, then a simple prisoners outfit followed by rags and finally a trench coat. Frustrated with the horrible reflection, Ryan slapped the water, waking him instantly.

His eyes snapped open as quickly as always. The morning sun was breaching the cave entrance enough that the smoother stones inside lit the entire entryway. There Ryan sat, back against the wall with a large fire red hawk curled between his legs, a warm lion cub curled against his left leg. Annwn the fox quietly snoozed to his right, and a gorgeous young woman with green streaked brown hair, slumbered against his left shoulder. It took the vagrant a moment, rubbing his eyes and yawning, before he realized what was going on. Chuey, the viper woman from Lumiose city, was leaned against him in the damp and warming cave known as 'Zubat Roost'. It was difficult to squeeze his way out of the cluster, holding both Annwn and Chuey where they were as he shifted his legs from around the hawk and cub. The red ape stared at him for a moment, before moving over to help reposition Annwn and the lass. Once Ryan was finally standing, the two were left laying on the stone floor, heads pressed against each other gently.

The large man ran a long fingered hand through his hair. Bringing his hands together to press fingers against each other. First the pointer finger of each hand was pressed against each other, the other fingers forming fists that were painfully pushed together. Then his middle finger of each hand was pressed together, followed by the ring and finally the pinkie fingers. Each of his slightly more than five inch long fingers bent somewhat painfully as he absentmindedly worked them, his thoughts elsewhere. **_"You don't make this easy do you?"_** the corner of his lip curled in frustration. **_"If you wake and I'm here, I'm a creep"_** he shivered silently, his fingers aching as he repeated the process. **_"If you wake and I'm here asleep, I'm lazy"_** The vagrant glanced left and right, looking to both entrance and exit of the small tunnel. **_"If you wake and I'm not here, I'm an asshole"_** His tongue ran across his teeth as he silently glared at the woman. **_"Oh let's not forget, if I leave you here; something may attack you in your sleep"_** The man's shoulders tensed as he lowered to crouching for a moment, finishing his finger exercises. **_"And if I take you with me, it's kidnapping. I can't win here can I?"_** Annwn's eyes flitted open, tongue lolling happily out the side of it's mouth when it noticed Ryan standing nearby. _"shh, come here"_ he smiled, whispering as he stroked the air with one finger.

The pokemon woke and shifted a little while Ryan knelt down and scooped the exhausted young woman up in his arms. Draping one of her arms over his shoulder he held her with his arms as a seat. Moving slowly and gently he headed to the rear exit. **_"I'll have to settle for moving you. Not far of course, but somewhere safer"_** His foot kicked a small aerosol can as he walked. Pulling his hand away from holding the lass in his arms, Ryan pointed to it, and was quickly handed it by the small Ape. 'Pokemon Repellent' it read. An idea almost instantly sprang to mind, the vagrant handed the small can back to the ape and whispered _"Find more"_ , hoping that even if it didn't understand, Annwn would. Thankfully the red ape did understand the command, it happily collected seven more empty cans of repellent from the surrounding area.

When he emerged from the exit of the small tunnel Ryan was faced with a fence guarding a small cliff edge. The main path ran off to his left and along the cliff side. A rusted metal fence, many pieces falling off it, ran along the edge of the path. It appeared more likely to give an infection than any protection. Following the path a ways, the vagrant encountered a small alcove. The crevice was sturdy and large enough for a person to curl up and sleep in. Gently he lay Chuey down in the alcove. The large man then looked amongst the pokemon following him, to the hawk. He held an empty can out sideways, taking one of Leveyr's talon's in hand to slice the top off it. _"People use these until they stop spraying. But that doesn't mean they're empty"_ he smiled, cutting three more open before laying them out in a little border around the alcove where the sleeping lass lay. _"A little of the liquid will still be coating the inner wall. Annwn, gimme heat"_ The Braixen's head cocked lightly to the side as it warmed it's hand. With the vagrant's direction, the small fox pressed it's hot little hands against the sliced tins for a moment. _"Heating the tins starts the residue evaporating. Annwn, gimme fire"_ he grabbed a small blade of grass, holding it out to Annwn. When the blade was alight, the large man gingerly used it to light the gas beginning to flow from each can. With the four little metal candles guarding the young woman, he straightened himself and carried on down the path.


	11. Chapter 11: A little Tumble

The sun hung high in the late noon sky, wave after wave crashing on the thin beach before a cliff in the low tide. A large wave placed the large man down on the sand. His clothes now stinking of salt, fish and booze rather than just the latter. With Annwn and the Ape shaking him, Ryan pulled himself to standing, brushing the sand off himself. Lifting his head he took note that if the waves had been any stronger, his head would have been smashed into the cliff face. With little other option, Ryan began to stagger left along the cliff face, hoping to find it branch out somewhere nearby.

At the sand bank ahead widened enough for a place where the tide was not reaching, Ryan witnessed an amazing and gorgeous creature laying on it's back on the sand. Recognizing Chuey instantly he smiled. The green and brown haired vixen was laying at the base of the cliff obviously enjoying the sun. She wore little more than a creamy white bikini that stood out from her skin only barely. She didn't appear injured, and didn't look up at the vagrant's approach.

It didn't take much for his imagination to fill in the blanks. He'd seen this woman laying like this before, so it was little work to strip away the small amount of fabric hiding what should remain hidden. Admiring her figure for a second, Ryan's mind had him sinking to his knees beside the woman. Sliding her sunglasses up to see her eye he wrapped his arm around her. She smiled silently and accepted the kiss as he pressed his lips against hers. Their tongues entwined as he lifted her slightly into the kiss. _"Hey"_ Chuey's voice rang through his head after a couple moments, shaking Ryan from his considerably private fantasy. _"What happened to you?"_ She removed her sunglasses, sitting up and looking the man over. _"Are you alright?"_

The large vagrant grumbled, annoyed both by what happened, and that his personal time had been interjected into. Shaking the thoughts from his head, the man smiled at Chuey as warmly as he could. _"I had a run in with a group that calls themselves 'Team Flare'"_ he began, his left hand rubbing a point on his leg that had become particularly painful. _"I've met them before. A group of stuck up fashion obsessed assholes"_ His mind drifted a little, recalling the groups strange red uniform that appeared to be something from a fashion show. _"Four of them this time, their Pokemon were a lot stronger. But again they were threatening kids."_ Ryan lifted his left foot, balancing on his right as he examined what remained of his shoes. They'd be sliced through and ripped apart, his feet were bleeding from cuts that had gone a little too far. _"I see them attacking this little girl, demanding her Pokemon and any money she had. Well of course I lost it. I didn't realize how sharp the stone road was until now"_ he chuckled, wincing slightly as he placed the foot back on warm glass. _"I demanded they leave her alone, they bitched about something to do with gathering fossils. And apparently since we were in the way they were going to deal with us"_ Ryan could remember moving Shauna behind him as Leveyr and the Ape, the only two who kept up with his sprint across the rocks, moved in front of him. Annwn and the lion cub; Embeee as Shauna had called it at the time, arrived shortly before it happened. _"I remember moving her to a safe place, where she wasn't being pushed back toward the cliff like I had been."_ He thought hard for a moment, muttering dialogue to himself to refresh his memory. 'Leveyr, Gimme her, there' He had said. The Eagle had lifted Shauna onto it's back and climbed up the cliff before racing off with her down the road. _"I remember a popping sound, just one loud pop. I think I got shot?"_ His hand moved a little at his thigh, finding the bullet wound. _"I wasn't expecting it and fell backward."_ Annwn had dived after him, the vagrant's arms around it before they hit the water, where he used almost all his strength to hold the small Pokemon above the waves. _"I landed in a river, the tide was going out and I was pulled out to sea"_ he rubbed the head of the fox beside him before continuing. _"This little wise guy decided to leap after me. So did an ape and a lion cub."_

Ryan looked down at his feet, the hot glass sitting in the sand has scolded his soles. Though his feet still hurt, they weren't bleeding. Annwn was sitting beside his feet on the sand, playfully blowing spouts of fire into the beach, creating little glass trails. Thinking for a moment, the large man felt the back of his leg, becoming quite uncomfortable at being unable to find the exit wound. The lass became confused and then slightly concerned when the large man pulled out his knife. Ryan didn't hold the weapon in any threatening manner, instead turning it in his hand and using it to dig into the small wound. Ignoring Chuey as she grew more and more concerned, the man finally dug out the bullet, gripping his leg in pain once it was free. Annwn's paws immediately moved to grabbing the sliced open flesh. The vagrant groaned in pain as the heat from the little hands burnt at his skin. Looking around for the other Pokemon to distract him, Ryan only spotted the eagle, being chased around then chasing in turn, another Eagle he had seen at Chuey's apartment.

Watching the poor man mutilate his own leg to remove a bullet, the bikini clad lass rose from the sand. Once she wrapped her towel around her waist, Chuey approached the large vagrant. The bloody bullet was pulled out, and she looked concerned from it to him. _"I could have done that for you. I have a lot of experience removing bullets."_ She shook her head a moment _"You did the right thing though. Protecting her"_ She wrapped her arms around the large man. His mind instantly moved to a place that should not be written, or at least read. His arms moved around her to hold the lass close to him, as pathetic as it may seem, this was something Ryan had not had in several month, perhaps years. Though the simple embrace only lasted a short time, it was something he wished would last forever. Their moment was ruined however, by the loud squawking of both eagles as they flew out toward the sea. Looking across the water, Ryan could barely see the problem. Both the fiery ape and the lion cub were drifting in the water, shouting frightened as a strong current appeared to be pulling them out further and further into the large ocean. Each time the birds tried to seize and move the other Pokemon, the frantic fire creatures slipped from their talons.

The water was cold, very cold. He didn't want to go back in, but if he didn't, there was a good chance both those Pokemon would die. As he swam, he could feel the weight of his clothes pulling him down into the thick water. Ryan never liked to swim, he always sunk like a stone. But these two were following him, it's his fault they're in the water, if they died it was his fault. The water seemed thick and heavy, almost as if it was trying to pull him down within it. A shape, covered with lights but yet un-discernible, swam alongside him. The vagrant reached out, snatching the arm of the small ape and swinging it over his shoulder. The frightened creature clung to him painfully, it's fingers digging into his shoulders as he looked for the cub. It wasn't far, but he was tired and heavy. If he reached out to it, if he grabbed it, the weight would drown them all. Scrunching his eyes, Ryan turned back and began swimming to shore. Glancing over his shoulder he watched as the cub was dragged along behind him by the lighting shape. Glad it was going to be okay, he focused on getting back to the sand. Keeping himself as high in the water as he could, letting the waves move him and only paddling enough to fight the current under the surface. No sooner had he landed on the sand, than Embeee was deposited beside him. The cub growled and snapped at the creature that had been carrying it. struggling to his knees, Ryan lurched to the side, pinning the feline down and growling his dominance. It licked and nuzzled his neck in submission, causing the large man to roll off, slightly confused before blushing at a memory.

The shape that had been swimming, didn't actually swim. It was an odd entity, about as big as Annwn was before he learned to stand on two legs. It was a collection of tentacles extending from a strange translucent pink helmet. It had large eyes and a sharp beak, small spots of light glowing and shifting inside it's pointed helm. It seemed to bob in the air as a jellyfish bobs along in the sea. Holding his hand out, palm facing away from him, Ryan watched as it bobbed over to press itself against his long fingers. Chuey approached slowly, commenting that it was a creature known as an Inkay. Ryan knew this of course, but didn't respond as he simply stared at it's shifting and fading lights. Their movements were random but hypnotic, dizzying the vagrant as he continued to look at them. Once he moved his hand away, the little creature bobbed around until it noticed the ape holding it's hand the same way. It drifted over and nuzzled the pyro primate's palm, leading to the two chasing each other around the sand nearby.

The warm sun and sand eventually dried the group off as they trudged along the beach northward. Chuey had opted to stay and bake a while, enjoying the secluded area she'd found for herself. During the walk, Ryan realized that the small squid or jellyfish esc creature was following him. Turning around and looking at the thing that was floating directly in his sight, Ryan chuckled. _"You're going to follow me then hmm?"_ the Inkay did a flying flip, twisting itself over backward before hovering in front of him once again. _"Guess I should name you. And the rest of you too for that matter."_ He grinned, turning back north and continuing on his way. _"Well you all know Annwn"_ the small Pokemon trotted beside him, holding his hand. _"He's in charge after me when you are following me. Then I suppose Leveyr there is next"_ the bird squawked happily as it gently cruised on the wind beside him. _"Mentally I've been calling you Ape, so if that's okay with you I'll continue"_ the Fiery monkey ook'd it's appreciation. _"Shauna called you Embeee, and you seem to like that. And if you are following I might as well call you Leyte"_ he finished, addressing the lion cub and the Inkay in turn. Ahead he could see another small town on the edge of the cliff, knowing immediately Cyllage City.


	12. Chapter 12: Fyr E?

Cyllage city is a city on the beach side, the buildings had been thrown up on the stone inland. But the beach seemed ever present throughout the streets, the smell of salt and the rush of the ocean breeze. The sun rose late in the city, obscured until nearly midday by a giant cliff to the east. The same cliff Ryan had followed to reach the town. Waves rolled across the sand and slapped against the stone foundations of the streets leading out. As the tide swept out though, the sandy beach would become an impressive expanse, twenty or thirty paces from the edge of high tide to the edge of low. The large vagrant took a moment, sitting down to rest in the high tide. Annwn and the Ape sat beside the man, all three uncomfortable in the water. Small waves rushed back and forth around the group; the lion cub Embeee sat on the dry rock with the floating squid and large eagle beside it.

Much of the day had already swung past. The sun was already reaching it's rays down to stroke the distant waves on the ocean of the horizon. Long orange and purple clouds stretched across the sky, reflected in the water reaching all the way to Cyllage city. A tall vagrant, clothed in tattered rags and a long trench coat, stood upon the shoals west of the city, a collection of pokemon around him. _"Gimme Fire"_ he barked hoarsely, the mouths of each of the creatures around him, with the sole exception of a hovering squid, grew alight with fire. The assorted beasts held the ball of fire in their mouths as long as they could, many snuffing it out in order to breathe. Only Annwn, who held himself up using a long stick, could hold the fire indefinitely. The vagrant mostly ignored the young woman with long brown hair that sat down on the edge of the shoals. It was unclear if Shauna was watching him, the pokemon, or the sunset. _"Gimme Fire"_ He declared again, a ring of glowing mouths surrounded him once more. After bringing his hand to his mouth, Ryan pretended to take something from it and hold it out away from himself. _"Gimme Fire"_ He looked at his hand, then all of a sudden hurtled the nothing away toward the sunset. A volley of fireballs instantly followed his launch. _"Bombardment"_ The vagrant smiled. _"Ape, Gimme Fire, There"_ He pointed at a rock not far away. The small crimson chimp hurtled a small fireball at the point, to receive a stroking on the head as a reward. _"Bombardment, There"_ Each of the creature's that could, launched a small fireball at the point Ryan had now gestured to. _"Volley"_ Was the last command he'd explained so far today, each of the various animals were getting tired but understood the command well enough. Volley was simply an order to continue to fire at the last place ordered.

After a long day, the vagrant sat down on the rocks at the edge of Cyllage city. The Ape and Eagle immediately curling up beside him as the Lion Cub and squid became more acquainted. Ryan drew a small bottle of a hard liquid from his coat, taking a couple gulps as the girl began to speak. _"I thought you died"_ She looked out at the half of the sun still breaching the line of the horizon. _"I'm glad you're okay Mr. Cabberin."_ The large man shrugged, wiping his mouth but not yet capping the bottle. _"Serena said you would be fine. She remembers what you were like back in school too"_ Ryan chuckled, taking another swig before passing the bottle to Annwn. _"I took the gym challenge here too. It was easy and got me lots of money"_ The pokemon staggered for a moment, having difficulty holding the bottle as it stood on it's hind legs. After taking a couple small sips, it handed the whiskey back to the vagrant.

The young lady turned away from the smell of the whiskey and to the north. _"I was thinking of taking a walk along Menhir Trail tomorrow."_ She mumbled half to herself. _"I've read that the stones there give off some strange radiation"_ Ryan nodded in response. Menhir Trail was a famous road lined with enormous stones taller than a single story house. Much of it's fame came from the odd energy the stone's released into the air around them. Many pokemon who would change form usually only at the touch of certain mystical gemstones, could simply will themselves to change in the presence of these great Menhir's. Ryan happily told the lass about them, recounting that when he was younger than her; he would spend time playing amongst the stones with his family Eevee. While he played, young Ryan would often witness trainers from the world around, let their pokemon from their pokeballs to play in the stones as well. He'd never forget a near sacred line many of these tourists would say on their knees to the creatures before them. **_"Here, it is your choice to evolve. If you want to, I won't stop you. If you don't, I won't be mad"_**

Shauna raised a point, curious that this was the only place she'd ever heard of where the pokemon 'Eevee' could be found in the wild. An astute observation actually. Eevee are a very fluffy canine creature, typically dark brown with lighter bands. The very popular creature originated on the Menhir trail in fact. The earliest known were seen around two and a half to two thousand years ago. Since their appearance, humans have bred them into dozens of shapes and sizes. But the essence of what an Eevee is remains. It was interesting that the fluffy pokemon came about on the Menhir Trail, those befriended by humans in the area could use the power of the stones to transform into variants more suited to help in certain ways. The original five that could be found were Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Glaceon and Leafeon. Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon could all be reproduced in Eevee that had been taken from the area, by exposing them to a water, fire, or thunder stone respectfully. When humans domesticated the creature, it's adaptive nature took effect. From the love and care of humans, Eevee's could evolve into three new forms; Umbreon, Espeon and Sylveon. To this day many Eevee trainers or simply Eevee owners, bring their beloved pokemon to the Menhir Trail and Geosenge city beyond, to give them the opportunity to choose what their future selves would look like.

* * *

The night was silent, but warm. Ryan peeled the warm bodies off of him, each one waking happily to skip a couple steps away from the vagrant. A small meal of berries and Whiskey before he started north to meet up with the young lass seeking to visit the ancient Geosenge town at the end of the Menhir Trail. She was not alone when he arrived, accompanied by her lass friend whom had shouted at Ryan two days prior. The girls chattered quietly amongst themselves as Ryan led them north along the path. So many times had he played with the family Eevee out here. It was traditional for those living in Geosenge town to have a pet Eevee, and many of the children around the age of ten would begin to play with the Eevee out amongst the great monolithic stones.

With his legs following a path they had long long ago, not needing his mind to tell them where to go, Ryan enjoyed running his hands through the grass. Shauna's two legged lizard with a fiery tail danced up ahead. It's body shed a strangely brilliant glow as it expanded slightly, as the glow faded it was clear the creature was about a foot taller with longer arms and a strange red horn protruding from it's head. Looking down to his right, the vagrant was surprised to see that the Ape had grown taller also, and though not by much the shape of the tuft of hair on its head had changed also. Shaking his head and smiling, Ryan looked back at the path his feet were bearing him. The little road ahead led to the home of his grandparents, his childhood home. When he'd moved away, he'd come home every weekend to visit and play with that Eevee. Every weekend that he could. The vagrant was close to his thirtieth year, to expect such a creature to live nearly as long was cruel. That family Eevee was dead, it died when he couldn't visit anymore. And nothing could change that.

 _"Ryan?"_ An older voice croaked from nearby, ending a rhythmic chopping of wood. The man was elderly for sure, but in no way infirm. Aspe Cabberin approached his grandson, looking the boy up and down. _"Been some time lad. How've you been"_ he slapped a hand down on the vagrant's shoulder.

 _"I've been a little out of luck Grandad"_ Ryan replied. _"The school wouldn't take me back. I've had no-where to go"_ he mumbled, looking down at Annwn holding his hand, the fox's eyes staring up at him.

 _"You could always come home. Your Grandma and I would be happy to give you some shelter while you found a job. Do you remember Abigail?"_ Ryan almost groaned and rolled his eyes. Abigail Symp was Ryan's neighbor as he grew up, they played together a couple times but he'd never been interested in her. _"Oh, here she comes now"_ His grandfather gestured down the path. A young red head, garbed in the white coat of the pokemon center, strolled toward them with two pokemon by her side. _"She's been an angel"_ the old man continued, but something had caught Ryan's attention.

To Abigail's left trotted a happy and healthy canine with sleek pinkish-purple fur, long ears and a long tail, the Espeon was not his concern. A couple paces in front of her, weakly half-trotting half-walking, was red and white furred canine. It's mane and tail weren't as fluffy as other Flareon, its pointed ears hung down and it's dark eyes were glazed a milky white. The woman took a couple steps, placing her hand on the canine's back and quietly urging it to slow down. Ryan approached with long, deliberate strides until the old pooch was rubbing against his leg. He knelt down and scratched around it's head, the little creature unable to decide whether to sit and enjoy or sniff wildly. Catching it's collar in his hand the vagrant saw perhaps the most familiar tag, 'FYR E'. The 'E' was scratched on by a child, to make those reading the tag mispronounce it's name. _"Fear?"_ He whispered, stroking the head of the now weakly purring creature. It nuzzled it's old face into his hands and licked wildly, clearly unable to see at all. Ryan could barely hear his grandfather explain that Abigail had been keeping Fyr in good health. She agreed, squeaking in surprise when the Flareon dropped to it's side. It continued to attempt to nuzzle Ryan, while apparently begging for it's stomach to be rubbed. Abigail used Espeons to help her, they let her hear a pokemon's thoughts, and with how long she'd worked with the little Flareon, she felt that was a gift Ryan had to experience. **"Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, missed you."** The large man felt water burning at the edges of his eyes as he petted the canine in front of him, a strange but familiar voice in his head. _"I missed you too Fyr"_ it yipped happily, licking at his hand and wriggling itself as close as it could to him. **"I ready Ryan. We can go now"** Ryan wiped a thread of water from his cheek _"Go? Go where?"_ his grandfather shook his head slowly. **"You promised one day we could go see new places"** Fyr rolled tiredly back onto his belly **"meet new people. I'm ready"** a pink tongue lolled out the side of it's mouth excitedly. _"I can't. You're not well"_ the Flareon whined, pulling itself closer to the large man and pawing at him while he rubbed its back. **"But you promised. I'm ready"** the large man shook his head _"You can't see, you can't see the new places"_ the canine suddenly barked happily, pointing it's milky white eyes in the direction of Ryan's face. **"I can smell!"** it's nose wiggled excitedly as it stared up at him. _"I promised"_


	13. Chapter 13: I promised

The large vagrant, sitting on folded knees on the ground, looked up from the happily barking little crimson and cream canine. Two people stood over him, both his grandfather and Abigail shook their heads. Fyr, the Flareon currently coiled up on Ryan's lap, was too old to travel any more. Many Eevee and their evolutions live at most fifteen or sixteen years. The twenty year old Flareon was well past due, he couldn't see; he could barely hear or move on his own. And yet it skipped happily around the large man on the ground. _"I promised"_ Ryan muttered, scratching behind the ears of the happy pooch. _"He kept going because I promised. He's been waiting for me"_ The words were more to himself than either of those looking down on him. Fyr barked happily, grumbling almost like a purr as Ryan began to scratch one spot a ways down his neck. Finally his grandfather spoke up, mentioning that the dog would be happy as long as Ryan was with him for his last days. Fyr could move on if Ryan was there. _"But then I would have broken my promise."_ a wet tongue slathered across his cheek. _"Even if he's content to die here. It's not what he wants."_ The large man shifted a little, patting his thigh and gaining the attention of the little fox that was using a stick to hold itself on two legs. _"I'd rather his last days be what he's always wanted, than to simply let him curl up and die here."_

Annwn stumbled over to the large man in response to the slapping of his thigh, the lion cub and strange flying squid watching from a distance. _"Annwn, this is Fear"_ the large man stroked the blind dogs head slowly. Lowering down onto it's front legs, the fiery fox sniffed at the old canine. Fyr sniffed back a moment before taking a grumbling snap at the younger creature. Instinctively Annwn brought it's stick round. Shocked, Ryan had no time to react, though he was confused immediately after when the stick stopped short of the elderly pooch. **"I understand. This one is in charge of the team"** the sound of Fyr's thoughts still rippled through his mind. **"But I'm not part of the team"** Ryan nodded, smiling slightly as Annwn lifted himself to his feet with the stick. The young fox lent forward and licked the neck of the old Flareon before stepping back. With Annwn out of the way, Embeee and the Ape scooted forward, leaving the tentacled creature to hover over near the Espeon. The two young Pokemon skipped around the elder. Fyr's head kept turning slowly but surprised each time one came closer than Ryan's arm's reach. After growling and grumbling each time, the fourth time the lion cub bounded near Fyr launched from the large man's arms and onto the younger creature. His milky white eyes could not focus on cub beneath him, but Fyr growled deeply, his paw on the furry neck on the ground. Every muscle in Embeee's body seemed to relax as it slumped against the dirt ground, glancing meekly up at the crimson snarl above it. The little ball of fire that had been tossed by the fiery ape, slapped into the side of the milky eyed canine. Snapping his head to the side, Fyr's open mouth launched a twisting torrent of heat that picked up and threw the small chimp across the dirt road.

Placing his hands under the armpit's of Fyr's front legs, Ryan gently pulled the canine off the small lion cub. _"You're not taking him"_ the old man above the vagrant ordered down. _"He's too old and weak. He doesn't have long left"_ Ryan looked up at his grandfather, the Flareon in his arms barking quick but deeply at the old man. Ryan shook his head, placing Fyr by his feet as he rose to look the old man in the eyes.

 _"You may not want to move in your old age"_ Ryan stared at the older man. _"But Fear wants to go, and I'm taking him with"_ Annwn's stick gently guided the old pooch to stand at the vagrant's side. It was about three minutes of silent staring before Ryan looked aside, slapping his thigh twice before following the road eastward. When his feet began to move, a set of four little paws trotted slowly beside him. Ryan looked down to his right, where Annwn would stand was the crimson and cream canine. Though Fyr couldn't see, it happily walked along beside its friend. Annwn stood proud, stick offsetting each step, as he walked behind the Flareon.

The road east of Geosenge Town passed under a large collection of stones that served as a massive gate. A fruit tree stood not far from the exit, big yellow fruits; about 10 centimeters in length, hung from its branches. As they passed, Ryan watched the shadow of the crimson chimp scamper up the trunk and into the limbs of the tree. It plucked one of the nearest fruits and chomped eagerly into it. Chuckling, Ryan slapped his thigh and waited a moment for the Ape to catch up. But it didn't move. The long armed creature simply sat in the tree and stared at the vagrant for a moment. Ryan watched as it slowly plucked another, larger, fruit from a higher branch. It tossed the yellow food in the air a couple times before suddenly launching it with full force at Ryan. The hard fruit struck his chest, had it been any firmer, it may have broken a rib. The large man blinked a couple times before turning away and following the path on east into a cave marked "Reflection Cave"

The cave was lit well, sun light from the outside should have shone only a couple steps into the rocky path. The walls were so smooth and polished, sheets of crystal embedded into the rock, to create the effect of giant mirrors. Every passage and room in the catacombs were lit by light that bounced from the crystalline walls. Fyr's nose worked only slowly, this place was familiar from years gone by. On the second floor down, chiseled marks could be found in the huge Crystal walls. Flakes had been cut away as people tried to sell them. Many of the would be millionaire's were targeting the wrong stones, several gems lining the crystal mirrors produced their own light when none else is present. Stopping by a large and almost untouched sheet, Ryan chuckled. _"Mirror Mirror, Set in stone"_ he began reciting. _"Who sits upon, the Amber Throne?"_

 _"I don't think it'd answer that question, but rather ask 'Why the hell are you talking to a mirror?'"_ A voice from behind him startled the large man. Fyr lowered his front end as Ryan jumped a little. Looking over his shoulder in the crystal, the vagrant noticed two things; the viper lady "Chuey", and a glass bottle tucked under a stone near her feet. Greeting her with a smile, Ryan stroked the tense dogs back, calming it quickly. After wrapping his arms around the woman for a moment, and introducing her to Fyr. Ryan watched as she quietly let the Flareon sniff her fingers, grabbing the bottle of Absinthe from the ground as he watched. The trundle through the crystalline caverns was faster with Chuey accompanying him. It wasn't long before the group emerged into the setting sunlight shining across a large seafront city.

As Chuey headed to the Shalour City hotel, Ryan instead took an earlier turn in the streets. Three blocks away from where they entered the city, the vagrant arrived at the gate to the Shalour University. A large set of sprawling buildings that took about a quarter of the cities size. Straightening his trench coat and cracking his back, Ryan weaved his way through the many streets of the miniature city within a city. One building stood out to him, a building he'd made a direct path to. To his surprise, a young woman was standing outside the building already. Shauna smiled at the vagrants approach, eagerly chattering about wanting to meet a famous researcher. Fyr's reaction as she began to faun over him had her recoil and turn her attention away from the white eyed canine. Leaving the lass to her search for her researcher. The receptionist of the building was at first shocked at Ryan's appearance, immediately covering her nose and looking away. _"Ryan Cabberin, Masters in Engineering"_ he recited as succinctly as he could. The woman clacked away at her keyboard a moment with her hand over her nose. Her eyebrows raised as she looked from the monitor to the man before her. _"I was wondering if I could use lab seventeen"_ he asked calmly, the woman nodded, indicating to the hall and stating that the door should be open.

Once inside the computer room, the large man sat down at a terminal and hooking the old and battered pokeball into the machine. It took about an hour to extract some basic information on the owner of the sphere. A man named 'Terry Ison' was found dead in the river near Aquacorde Town, almost twenty years ago. The pokemon's data was in tact, it was 'alive' but the mechanics that materialized the creature were ruined. Hoping not to overstay his welcome, Ryan detached the ball from the terminal and returned it to his coat pocket, along with several tools he knew he'd need to work on the device.


	14. Chapter 14: Tower of Lies

Stepping out of lab seventeen, Ryan led the small group from the building and through the streets of the university. Unlike the large vagrant leading the way, many of the pokemon were not use to walking for such long periods of time. The hawk sat on Ryan's shoulder and the odd tentacled creature drifted along easily, but the creatures confined to the ground grew weary and had trouble walking. Scooping the old Flareon up into his arms, and lifting Annwn up to hang off his back, Ryan looked about for a place to stay the night and rest. A large tower to the north of the city, an ancient lighthouse, stood out above every other building. The Tower of Mastery it was called, the Vagrant had been there before when he was much younger. It was a large building with several large rooms, each free to stay in. At least it was when he last visited. Patting his thigh, Ryan looked from the tentacled creature to Embeee, who weakly dragged her legs along the ground as she walked. _"We're going there."_ He pointed to the tower not far in the distance, speaking to the tentacles. _"Are you able to carry her that far?"_ the large man asked, looking from the creature to the lion cub. It bobbed down, wrapping it's many appendages around under the pits of the front and rear legs.

The Tower of Mastery was once a lighthouse. It sat on a small island with a collection of buildings surrounding it, led to by a long sand bridge. One half the tower was peaked by large pillars that rose almost the length of the tower again above it. A grand arch entrance stood proudly above the vagrant as he wandered through; A Braixen hanging from his neck and down his back, A Fletchinder perched on his right shoulder, and a Flareon cradled in his arms. Fyr's nose began sniffing interestedly. A mixture of the ancient stone and mortar, the sea breeze and the smell of trees and flowers on the small island must have been an amazing new experience. It barked happily and rolled over in Ryan's arms to get a better position to smell the world around him. Annwn lowered himself down onto the sandy road, signalling to the Inkay to place Embeee back down as well. Knowing how close they were to a place to stay, many of the creatures took to carrying themselves the last stretch.

Ryan and his group were not the only to arrive at the tower at that moment though. Somehow, Shauna and Mr. Cabberin have a habit of showing up at the same place at the same time. The lass with the long brown hair let go of what she was holding, smiling and waving to the older man and the many pokemon surrounding him. Serena raised her hand, instead of letting it swing by her side, to push open the large oak door leading into the building. Inside the tower was lined with an enormous winding ramp. In the center stood a four story tall statue; of a black banded, spiked arm bipedal jackal. The giant statue was of a Lucario, though it looked different to normal, and no-where near as wolf-like as those the skating woman had shown. Shauna skipped in, calling out for the 'Mega Evolution Guru' as she went.

As if in answer to her calling, a door beneath the great statue swung open, an old man walking through to stand in the main hall. The man was followed by four others, most being the other children Ryan remembers being attacked by the men in red suits back in Aquacorde town. The fourth little duckling was a woman with a helmet and roller skates, she was very up herself from their meeting a couple days prior. _"Hmm! Looks like everyone is finally here."_ The man began, ignoring the vagrant that edged along the wall to sit near the beginning of the ramp. The large man in a tattered trench coat whispered to the pokemon around him to take a short rest before they climbed to a room for the night. _"This is my granddaughter Korrina. She's Shalour City's Gym Leader."_ The old man gestured to the roller skate woman. Many of the kids grew quite interested, though the vagrant could tell Shauna's interest was not as sincere. She already knew this woman. _"So, Sycamore's pupils. Now that you're all here"_ the greying man continued. _"I suppose I should explain Mega Evolution to you."_ He grinned, even if the kids couldn't hear it, the old teacher could almost smell the script the old man was reading from. _"I assume you all know about Pokemon Evolution?"_

Shauna perked up, her hand shooting into the air. Ms. Armeniox was always a good student, she really did love to learn, and if what she was learning interested her; she would put her all into understanding. Sitting by the railing of the ramp upward, the vagrant began pressing his fingers each in turn against the bars, bending them unnaturally and painfully. Shauna explained as best she could her understanding of Pokemon Evolution, a process that changes a creature's form as they grow stronger. Her friend Serena cut in, adding that they might change based on pure friendship or the area they inhabit too. _"Exactly! And it's likely that Pokemon evolve in a lot of other ways as well."_ the old man responded, the curled lip and tense hands behind his back signs he did not appreciate an actual answer. _"Mega Evolution is a transformation of Pokemon that were thought to be unable to evolve any further!"_ He continued, returning to the script he had many times recited. Fyr lay beside the tall man, sniffing at the stone and licking at his best friends leg. _"It's a whole new level of power!"_ The script seemed designed to be organic, to seem as if the old man was truly interested. _"So in an Evolutionary line like Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard, Charizard would be able to evolve even further"_ He smiled, stretching his back and reveling in the expected awe of the children in front of him. At his final remark, Shauna knelt and turned to her right. Her body and those of the other children blocked the vagrant's view of what she was doing. But the flickering shadows cast in that area told him she was facing her Charmeleon, maybe even petting it.

 _"But not all Pokemon have a Mega Evolution."_ the man smiled, of all the children, the lass 'Serena' and black haired boy 'Ryan' seemed most interested. _"There's a reason why I used the word 'transformation' a moment ago."_ Mr. Cabberin rolled his eyes, his mouth moving in sync to the man's very next sentence. _"Mega Evolution differs from Evolution because it ends after a certain amount of time."_ He didn't know much about Mega Evolution himself, but from everything that had been said, he could simply assume that. Just as he could assume the look on the face of the two other boys. _"In other words, it's a temporary Evolution."_ Shauna was surprised, looking up from her little red leather friend. That a Pokemon would return to it's previous state wasn't a new concept to her; Ditto, Rotom, Shaymin and Castform all change shape for an amount of time. What surprised her was that this was considered special or new.

 _"Yes... Mega Evolution is a special kind of Evolution."_ The Gym leader interjected. _"That said, we still know very little about it."_ She lied, She was learning her grandfathers script, and was not particularly good at the blatant lies spattered through it. _"What we know now is that it requires special items."_ She continued, more comfortable with the weaker lies as she drifted slightly on her roller blades. The vagrant scoffed, coughing lightly before grabbing the bottle from his trench coat. Absinthe, powerful stuff. _"And the most important element is the trust between Pokemon and Trainer."_ She continued, many of the people ignoring the group by the base of the ramp, only the young boy 'Ryan' taking note of the strange fellow. _"To make Mega Evolution work, you need two items: a Mega Stone for the Pokemon and the Mega Ring, which has a mysterious stone set in it, for the Trainer."_ The pile of rags poured a couple drops of the alcohol onto his hand, offering it to each of the creatures around it in turn. _"Since Professor Sycamore entrusted each one of you with a Pokedex, I would like to give these items to all of you"_ She finished, her head lowering as she mumbled the ever famous 'but'. Well done, the vagrant thought, a way to slim down the number of people continuing the quest.

 _"Sorry, but presently, I have only one Mega Ring"_ the old man took over, his apprentice looking quite strained after everything. _"It's a very precious item."_ He held up a single ring with an oddly coloured green, red, or maybe brown, stone set in it. It was impossible to tell from where the vagrant sat, though at this point he was more interested in the fact that only Annwn didn't appreciate the taste of the Absinthe. He didn't hate it, it simply wasn't his taste. _"So, I want all of you to decide among yourselves which one of you will be the one who challenges the Mega Evolution Successor"_ The old man finished his script, gesturing to his granddaughter and watching the children react. The largest boy pirouetted before claiming that battling was not his scene. Shauna backed away, it would make a nice memory, but wasn't for her. The vagrant chuckled, she figured it out too, this was a way for her to step out on her own without any 'quest' watching her. The shortest boy, the red haired child Mr. Cabberin knew as Trevor, claimed he'd rather finish the Pokedex first, obviously an adventurer by nature. Of all the children that left only Shauna's friend Serena, and the young boy 'Ryan'.

Stepping to the side, the lass Serena smiled. _"Ryan, let's battle for it!"_ The wicked light in her eyes and half grin were both serious and excited. The black haired boy swept his hand through his hair before nodding his agreement. _"Whatever the reason, a battle gives us an opportunity to compete and see who Vaniville Town's best Trainer really is!"_ She continued, pulling a pokeball from her hip. His reply was less than humble, and perhaps slightly chauvinistic, making the may by the ramp who was still stretching his fingers, shake his head in pity. The boy was easily outmatched, Serena carried with her only three pokemon, but none of the boy's five could stand against them. The longest struggle was between a lion cub that growled, bit and even seared it's opponent, and the lass' oddly armoured plant-mammal creature. Even then, the grass- type pokemon conquered the fire- type, against which it had a distinct disadvantage. The vagrant chuckled to himself, taking a small swig of Absinthe as the boy with the jet-black hair stormed over to him.

The boy lent down over Ryan, insulting the way he was dressed, asking what was just so amusing. _"Y-yu-you didn't stam a kanse"_ The vagrant intentionally slurred his words, the child's nose wrinkling and his lips curling in disgust. What gave him the right to judge, he was nothing more than a filthy fucking bum. _"Y-You don, dun, dunt remimba mii. Du ya"_ Shauna covered her mouth to hide the snicker and the smile. Cabberin's slurred words were convincing to most, but humourous to her. The boy didn't remember him, he didn't need to. The boy grabbed the taller man's trench coat, lifting him slightly to bring their faces closer together as he insulted the poor man. _"Ya knu why you lost to her kid?"_ the man on the floor's slurr melted away as he grabbed the young man's shirt just as his own coat had been seized. _"You don't pay attention"_ his head cocked to the side, a toothy grin leaking Absinthe that sat in his cheeks. _"You're this close to a man with Absinthe in his cheeks, and four fire breathing pokemon around him."_ The boy looked around, apparently only just realizing his mistake. _"It's no wonder you lost"_ He pulled the boy closer, swallowing the alcohol still sitting in his mouth. _"He who knows all, sees nothing."_ he threw the lad off him, smiling as he staggered a couple steps before rushing out the main door.

The old man and Korrina appeared quite taken aback. An elderly arm moving to block the skating woman as she intended to intercept the vagrant, whom now began climbing the ramp with his collection of pokemon. The Flareon hung in the man's arms, it's front paws over one arm and it's back ones sitting on another. The little black nose sniffed furiously at the air as the group trudged up the very long but gentle slope. A door on the second flat area was unlocked. Stepping in, Ryan found a group of beds and some very concerned looking people. Annwn's hands raised and lowered in a calming motion as Ryan spoke. _"I'm so sorry to intrude upon your abode. We simply require a place to rest. We won't take up much space, and if you have any food you could spare for my companions, it would be greatly appreciated."_ He bowed, moving to a corner to sit in silence.


	15. Chapter 15: Fourrage Road

The view from the top of the grand tower was amazing. Ryan stood upon one of the grand pillars that rose high above the conventional peak of the tower. Below stood trees and rocks and the steeple of a church, but beyond that was a great and endless ocean. Raising his arms at his sides, the vagrant felt lighter without his trench coat. The wind across his back caressed his bare skin. Stone dust had been injected into the flesh of his back, much like a tattoo that ripped and stabbed at the skin as he moved. Each letter of the large print tattoo stung as the cold breeze ripped across it. Only the stone dust font felt any pain, making the large print 'FYRE' stand out against his flesh. With his arms raised at his sides, Ryan stepped up to the very precipice of the pillar. With his eyes closed and a deep exhale, the large man lent forward. His hands above his head and his feet gently leaving the stone as he fell tumbling downward. Down, with the air rushing past him, falling from his dream.

The vagrant's body lurched from where sat, every muscle jolting as he was thrown awake. The lion cub, fox and canine that lay draped across various parts of his legs and lap bounced to standing. Two of the three looked around startled, seeking the danger and finding only three filled beds. The third, Fyr, simply sniffed at the suddenly awake man. Ryan's hand ran through the hot strands of fur on the canine's head, scratching at the skin on the back of its neck. The milky eyed, slightly wrinkled face tilted forward at the scratching, stretching it's neck and making strangely happy whimpering noises. After pulling away his slightly burning hand, Ryan stroked the necks of both the cub and the fox. At the touch, the slightly jumpy Annwn and Embeee both started, turning around only to see the large man in a ratted trench coat sitting behind them. Once they were calmed significantly, Ryan noted Leveyr perched atop a nearby wardrobe. The red hawk had a sizable violet furred rat stashed in its paws. _"Come"_ Ryan whispered before leading the group from the room and down to the main chamber of the tower. Sitting in the large central chamber, the vagrant took his knife to the large rodent. After slicing away the skin of the already long dead creature, he prepared it for cooking. Breakfast was good, Breakfast was small. It surprised Ryan, once he left the tower after breakfast, to find the green haired woman Chuey standing on the stairs upward.

The viper lady, with her serpentine companion, walked alongside the trench coated man. He promised Fyr new smells, new places and a long journey he told her. The group would travel east along the seaside, enjoying the smells of the beach and anything they encounter along the way. The Flareon in question trotted along happily at the large man's right, sniffing at flower patches and fire hydrants as they passed on the street. Annwn walked more confidently now, using a large stick as a pretend cane in an almost parodying posh gait behind the elderly canine. The stick was not purely for spoof purposes though, the bipedal fox using it to press the sides of the blind creature ahead, gently steering it straight and ensuring it didn't collide with anything or stray away from the group. Along the path through the city, stood a large skate park with the sign 'Shalour city gym'. Both Shauna and Serena stood at the edge looking in at the collection of people gliding about on the concrete waves. Despite his feelings on the alleged sport of the pokemon league, Ryan found himself wishing the lass' the best of luck as he passed.

On the eastern edge of the city, after a small boundary field of flowers, ran a river. A thick mouthed river just as it reached the ocean. A man sat on a large stone by the water's edge, something strange about the man caught Ryan's eye though he was unable to pin it. The man wore a large hat, with a flap at the back that stretched down his neck and wet and torn clothes. In front of him was a long necked creature, it's back a hardened shell with several long spikes. But it did not seem in any way vicious as the man scratched under its chin. Without turning away, the man waved the two over, many of Ryan's companions refraining from moving too close to the waters edge as they followed him. The man upon the rock said nothing, turning to look at a strange treelike creature a little ways along the bridge before turning back to smile at the couple. After waving his hand in front of the creature's eyes he directed it to look down at the two. It's long neck swung the odd shaped head down to rest on Chuey's shoulder. While the two laughed, the man simply smiled and gestured first to it's back and then the other bank of the river. _"Your pokemon wouldn't want to swim, and it would be a nice experience for Fear right?"_ Chuey asked, Ryan nodding his head in a rolling acceptance. With a quick thank you to the man, the group climbed onto the back of what Ryan only now remembered was called a Lapras. Fyr hung in the large man's arms, and Leyte drifted along behind the ferry creature as they crossed the wide river. With a glance back toward the man, Ryan watched as he stroked the head of a large four winged bat before nodding to him.

It was only when the creature stopped on the opposite bank that Ryan realized what had been bothering him. _"Did you notice what that guy was wearing?"_ He asked the woman with the green streaked hair. She shrugged, helping him lift each of the pokemon from the creatures back and onto the sandy bank. _"Look"_ he nodded across the river _"a singlet and pants. He's soaking wet"_ She shrugged, the man swinging his legs round to the other side of the rock, the strange tree creature helping him down onto the sand. _"He should be freezing."_ But the vagrant's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden squeal of pain and quick crunching sound. Snapping his head to the side he watched as the last few tentacles were sucked into the large creature's mouth. The lion cub began angrily growling at the long necked creature, yipping and snarling. The large man dropped to his knees, rubbing the neck of the slightly larger than average cub. It grumbled and continued to snarl at the creature, fiery drool leaking from the sides of its mouth. Without a word, Chuey pressed a red and white sphere against the large creature, causing it to vanish in a flash of red light. _"Everyone has to eat"_ Ryan whispered to the cub, looking from it to Chuey, the small ball making a distinct dinging sound. _"It's horrible, but everyone has to."_ he held the small furry creature close, stroking it gently for a moment. When all seemed calm, Ryan stood before Chuey. _"Could you not let that out while she's around?"_ The woman nodded, understanding exactly why but turning to look at something behind her compatriot with wide eyes.

Turning around, Ryan was impressed to see the change Embeee had undergone. Her body was longer and raised higher from the ground. Her legs were longer and her mane, composed of fire like hair, was as long as her body. The lioness stood proud, ignoring the fluffy blind canine sniffing at her side. Annwn seemed to be measuring the large creature with his stick. Finding her to be almost 1.7 meters tall at the top of her head, as tall as most horses. Plunging his hand into her mane, Ryan scratched at Embeee's head before leading the group away from the beach. Up a slight hill from the sandy path was a long wooden fence. Penned into the large yard were a collection goats, each with a grassy back and long curved horns. One of the largest goats, paced along the fence line near Chuey. The woman was standing beside a strange ostrich-esc animal with three heads. Each of the heads watched the pacing creature, it's legs stamping in anticipation. With a wicked smile, the lady leaped onto the back of the tri-headed bird, grabbing at some fur behind one neck and ushering it over the fence. As soon as it landed upon the other side, both the bird and the goat were off. A quick dash around the perimeter. But seeing the prey flee, triggered a primal urge in the lioness, who bounded over the fence and after the two racers. Unwitting of the situation, or perhaps too old to care, Fyr simply sat by the fence sniffing some dandelions, sneezing as he sucked some of their fluff into his nose.

There are collars on each of the grass-backed critters, a house nearby and a boundary fence. Ryan would happily let her chase down and kill wild game. It's simply the natural way. But these aren't wild, they're someone's family, someone's lively hood. Throwing himself over the fence, the large man began bounding across the field after the other three. Annwn stood at the fence, hands on one of the wooden beams as he peered through at the spectacle. Ryan was fast, but really only as fast as the average man. He trailed far behind the chase ahead, watching smoke billow from the lioness' hungry mouth. Chuey's bird kept pace with the goat, reaching back and pecking at Embeee whenever she got close enough. Two large sets of talons clamped down on the vagrant's shoulders. Strong, powerful wings lifted him off the ground. The same speed feels so very different without the ground beneath your feet. The tips of each claw dug into his skin as he was hurtled through the air and finally dropped onto the Lioness' back. She staggered under his sudden weight during her lunge. He wasn't fast, he wasn't overly strong, but he was heavy enough to stop her should he choose. Ahead he watched Leveyr, almost the size of a man, gliding away with small drops of blood glistening on it's talons. Annwn smiled, watching as the Flareon beside him began running in circles, yipping excitedly. He'd heard the whole scene, even if he couldn't see it.

Forcing all his weight down, his hands burning as he pulled on Embeee's hair, the vagrant grinded the lioness to a halt. Almost as one would ride a horse, Ryan gently kicked her sides and turned her head by moving the fiery mane. A small ledge nearby was not guarded by the wooden fence, instead acting as a natural barrier. The equine sized lioness easily mounted the ledge, being slowly steered away from the paddock of grassy goats. Once certain they were far enough away, Ryan swung his left leg over her side, sliding down onto the ground beside the lioness. With the weight suddenly lifted from her, Embeee grumbled, nudging the vagrant's side with her muzzle. _"It's okay"_ he scratched at her cheeks. _"You were doing what came natural"_ his hand ran through her mane.

Looking back at the ranch, Ryan watched as Annwn trotted across the field. The enormous Leveyr, once such a small red robin, glided gracefully toward him, a happy bundle of fur held gently in its claws. Fyr's nose was going crazy, sniffing wildly at the air rushing past him. Annwn was the first to reach Ryan and Embeee, a large smile on his face as he pointed his stick up at Fyr. The canine glowed oddly for a moment, Leveyr's claws releasing him midair. The happy Flareon rolled in the wind as he slowly drifted down into Ryan's arms. _"Good Boy"_ the vagrant smiled, reaching down to scratch the fox's head between it's ears. The lioness nuzzled his side with her muzzle again, springing a thought to mind. _"You liked being ridden didn't you?"_ he asked, looking into her large eyes. Her long, very hot tongue, slathered across his face. _"It could be dangerous for me to ride you, I might be too heavy"_ he looked down at Fyr in his arms. _"But if you promise to be careful, you can carry Fyr?"_ he held up the milky eyed canine, who barked eagerly at the mention of his name.


	16. Chapter 16: Once a teacher

The road eastward turned gradually, with broken stones, into a large harbour. Filled with yacht's and schooners, fishermen sitting around tables measuring non-existent fish as they tried to outdo each other. A Train at the edge of the harbour scooted up the mountainous hill to the south, stopping to let passengers off at the higher tier where the city sat. Beyond the piers stood a few houses, many abandoned for they sat near the train station. The thin air up above would be perfect for Fyr, a new experience to enjoy. The best place would be at the peak of the hill. Reaching over and stroking the fur of both Embeee and her passenger, Ryan's attention was grabbed by a man in a small merchant stall nearby. _"Sir! You, in the long coat"_ The man called, to him. _"It's obvious you take great care of your companions"_ The man was good, many would call the creature's around him Ryan's Pokemon. This man could see the sort of fellow he was dealing with. _"I've a fine selection of Incenses here."_ his hand swept through his stall as he spoke. _"Perfect for the health and happiness of your friends"_ Ryan smiled, chuckling to himself as he approached the stall. Arms out at his sides he explained that regrettably, he had no money to speak of. A strange look came over the man as he moved around his stall to approach the large vagrant. _"Mr. Cabberin?"_ He asked, the merchant standing as tall as Ryan. _"Mr. Ryan Cabberin? It is you!"_ His arms wrapped around the man in the trench coat, taking him by surprise for the minute of the embrace. _"I'm so sorry, what happened to you was a crime. Here"_ The man spun on the spot, dashing over to his stall to retrieve a small gold and blue box. When offered it, Ryan smiled, politely pushing the box back at the man. _"No, please, I have no other way to thank you."_ The vagrant's head tilted. _"I still have a son thanks to you."_

Ryan had been left with little choice. Who'd ever met a salesman pushing someone to take his wares for free? With the Luck Incense tucked into a pocket of his coat, the vagrant continued on his way. The slope of the hill wasn't too impressive, but the thickness of the trees worked well to slow their climb. Hours passed as the group slowly ascended the hillside, the vagrant taking great pains to ensure that no fires were spread in the wake of the group. Annwn enjoyed plucking berries to sniff and nibble as he walked. The lioness struggled to navigate the many dense trees with the passenger sitting on her back. Several times her passenger, annoyed at the branches and leaves slapping his face, bit and incinerated a branch or two. Unlike anything Ryan had seen before, the fire from these quick bites wouldn't spread past the trunk or main branch where the bit one had spread from. In under a second the section of the bush that had dared attack the milky eyed canine, was nothing but dust and ash. At the peak of the tremendous hill stood the largest tree Ryan had ever laid eyes on. Platforms and vines surrounded the tree all the way to the leafy top.

A distance away from the tree, in a clearing overlooking the harbour and the train, was an area for tourists to relax and enjoy the view. Another amazing view, one the vagrant wished he could share with his little friend. There was just so much ocean, spreading as far as the eye could see to the north. Waves swept in and crashed pitifully against the raised walls of the harbour. He could see the dark shapes of creatures swimming about in the water, though some shade sat on the surface of the water, shadows of the enormous creature's in the sky. Wailord, the largest pokemon known to travel in herds, twelve of them drifted gracefully through the air northward. As his eyes scanned back to near where he sat, the vagrant noted the man who had been sitting on the rock, he stood at the end of a stone outcropping with his odd tree-like companion. The two appeared to be stretching at first, though the longer he watched the more Ryan recognized it as a form of martial arts practice. Shaking his head at the strangeness of the world around him. Ryan instead began looking about him for his little companion. Glancing upward at Leveyr, the large man simply smiled. The bird was as large as he was, perhaps a little bigger, it's claws were wrapped gently around a small wrinkly faced canine whose nose was working overtime to take in the strange smells of high altitude. Fyr was pointed in the direction Leveyr was flying, his little legs kicking as if he was galloping through the air.

With the invention of pokeballs, the concept of pokemon age has required some clarification. How long a pokemon has existed, is how old they are. How long a pokemon has been alive, is how elderly they are. It's quite likely that Fyr is not the oldest Flareon in the world, many that have spent years inside a ball would be older, but he is by far the eldest. No other milky eyed, wrinkle faced fiery little canine's would be sniffing berries at his age. When it came to berries in fact, there was no middle ground on what each of the pokemon around Ryan preferred. Every one of them enjoyed the spiciest of the berries, it seemed almost racist to say. Pokemon of the fire- type preferring spicy foods? Honestly, Ryan didn't blame them, the spicier foods did seem to have more flavour. It was Annwn's idea to mix some of the fruits they found in the area; a collection of ten centimeter long, soft bell fruits, and small soft red berries, into a small soup. The larger of the spicy fruits was very watery, providing the main substance to the soup. Every one of the group enjoyed the Braixen's cooking, many sniffing for more once the meal had been completed. The Lioness, content with the morning and wanting to rest, curled up behind the vagrant, such that he was pressed against her but not trapped by her. After handing each of the pokemon a small stick of incense, Ryan watched each of them calm down and curl up into the grass surrounding the trench coat.

With the gentle snoozing of all around him, Ryan could see no better time to investigate this very old, battered and broken pokeball. Removing it from his pocket, the large man turned the device over in his hands. The owner died twenty years ago, at best it would be the first generation of mass produced pokeball. The device was old, an antique, long before the ages of a shrinkable hollow ball. Grabbing the knife from his pocket, the vagrant gently pried the red and white caps off the device. Thin plastic shells designed to cover the inner mechanical workings of the ball. Several large copper bars connected the top and bottom halves of the sphere, which now looked similar to a peeled orange made of steel and plastic. Intricate wiring filled the top and bottom hemispheres, with a strange setup not dissimilar to a speaker beneath the 'button'. A quick examination of the condition of the wiring in the top hemisphere revealed that the external sensor and internal simulation were still functioning properly. _"Hello"_ Ryan rotated the device in his hand. _"I'm going to try and get you out of there okay?"_ His attention then turned to wiring around and the condition of the speaker esc assembly. Several parts had been broken by a hard strike against a solid surface such as a rock, other parts were corroded and worn out from its time being buried in the ground by the river.

There was a problem, a big problem that was the first thing Ryan thought of. But how to rectify this issue? Grabbing the repair materials, designed for a more recent model, Ryan collected four strips of metal. They were intended to repair the inner reflective panels. _"Annwn. Annwn come"_ he whispered to the snoozing fox nearby who though half asleep, stumbled over to curl up at Ryan's side. _"Annwn, I need help. Can you gimme heat?"_ He lay the strips down on his leg, watching as Annwn reached over and took them into his mouth for a moment. He whined and pawed at the large man's leg after a couple minutes, to which Ryan removed the strips and immediately set about bending the thin metal along the curved surface of the top shell. The white hot metal burned at the skin on the underside of Ryan's fingers, but he made sure the curves were as perfect as possible. With four curved metal strips, the vagrant twisted on the spot to heat the ends of each in the mane draped across the large body behind him. With the aid of the sleeping Lioness, the large man welded one end of each piece together such that the final product opened like a four petal flower. The repair kit included something akin to a pen, designed to trace wiring onto silicon. But Ryan didn't have silicon, the closest he had was this strange metallic flower. Several times he stopped, holding the pen in his mouth sideways as he counted on his fingers. The math was slightly complicated, at times requiring numbers as high or higher than thirty or fourty thousand, meaning he had to use both hands to run the numbers quickly. _"Sorry little buddy. This is going to take a while"_

 _"Who are you talking to?"_ Shauna bounded over, quietening down as she realized how many of those curled up on the grass were asleep. It'd been a long day, the sun was sinking below the horizon far to the west. _"Even from the train station it's a hard climb up here"_ She dusted off the grass nearby as she sat, a series of blinking red lights signaled the arrival of Shauna's four companions into the clearing. She was panting and out of breath as she looked over at the collection of strange objects strewn all across Mr. Cabberin's lap. _"That's the gym"_ she pointed at the enormous tree, apparently tracing a path to the top with her finger. _"I'll challenge it tomorrow, I'm doing well"_ She was proud of herself, Ryan's answer indicated he was proud of her as well. Her attention then fell from her own exploits, and rather to recognizing the shells of the pokeball she'd found before. _"What're you doing?"_

After asking for clarification, Ryan held up the mechanics of the pokeball. _"Say hi, it can see you"_ he smiled, pointing the top toward her. _"All pokeballs have two special functions"_ he explained, pulling the ball back and smiling. _"They hold the pokemon as data, but to prevent data decay, the pokemon has to be conscious. So they create a virtual world, kind of like a playground, where the pokemon can pretend it's living while it's inside."_ Aware of the time, the large man gently snapped the top and bottom shells of the ball back on, ensuring that the odd new device was attached as intended, with the four loose ends being pinned against the speaker device inside. _"They also record the outside world. So the pokemon inside can see what's happening. That's why people prefer to have the balls on their belts, better view"_ he smiled, sitting the ball down on the grass as he started packing up. As a sign she was paying attention, the young lass waved to the pokeball before asking what was wrong with it. _"The materializer is broken. The ball has two devices in that button looking thing"_ Mr. Cabberin tried to make it as easy to understand as possible. _"One turns the pokemon into data, and the other one turns it back. The one that turns it from data into reality is broken."_ Is it fixable, she understood what he meant, of course the device is far more complicated but that's the basic idea. _"It is. But there's a problem. While I'm fixing it, if the pokemon inside activates wants to jump out, or if I accidentally trigger it"_ She cut in, assuming that the pokemon would die or otherwise... changed. _"Yes, that's what this is for"_ he tapped the small banded device attached to the pokeball with his knife before tucking the blade away. _"If the materializer triggers before I'm certain it's fixed, this loops the data back into the pokeball safely. It's a security precaution I just designed"_

Once the large man had finished packing up, with the pokeball sitting safely beside him, he lent back against the lioness. _"I'll let you sleep, it's been a long day"_ Shauna smiled as she stood, each of her companions rising from the grass as well. _"You explain things very well Mr. Cabberin."_ She bowed before leaving. _"I can see why you decided to teach"_


	17. Chapter 17: Badlands

_"Teacher"_ A voice seemed to seep into Ryan's ear as he slept. _"Breakfast is almost ready"_ The voice continued. After scrunching his eyes a moment, the vagrant blinked himself awake. He wasn't a father, there were... reasons... that couldn't happen. Rubbing his eyes he looked around him sleepily. Fyr and Leveyr were where he remembered them the night before. Annwn however was lent over a pot, stirring a broth that looked quite similar to the night before. Even if Annwn didn't. Rather than standing near the height of Ryan's hip, the Pokemon was as tall as the vagrant. It looked almost like a fusion of a fox and a man in a long red cloak. His chest was golden rather than crimson, which raced down his back to his long tail. Ryan sat up, watching the creature a moment as the stick stirred the broth untouched. _"I'm sorry I was the last to evolve teacher. I figured it was what you wanted."_ It's mouth did not move as it looked from the pot to the vagrant. Yet the voice seemed almost audible.

Thinking for a moment, his tired brain taking a moment to comprehend the situation. Annwn was a Fennekin, a pokemon with aspects of the 'Fire-' classification. And then he evolved to a Braixen, another pokemon with aspects of 'Fire-'. He nodded slowly to himself, the next step was Delphox, which is when the creature gains aspects of the 'Psychic-' classification. Several 'Psychic-' pokemon have been known to read or speak to the minds of humans. **_"Annwn."_** he thought, in a strange sense not to himself but at the creature. _"Yes sir? I can hear you."_ The sensation was strange, almost as if Annwn wasn't the only Psychic pokemon allowing them to talk. **_"I've always been happy with how you are."_** the vagrant rose, gently moving Fyr to sleep on the grass next to Leveyr. **_"You didn't have to change for me. But I'm not upset that you did."_** He smiled, Annwn smiling with him as they shared the spicy breakfast. It took all the man's self control to not think of the terrible flavouring. After his own meal, Ryan awoke each of the other creatures that slumbered in the area, offering them their morning nutrients.

After his morning stretching exercises, where each finger was bent back in turn. And after Fyr had sniffed out a suitable tree to do his morning business on, the group headed south down the hill. South of Coumarine city was a large wasteland, which also sat to the west of Lumiose. The area was famous for its hot, dry air and heavy winds. As the vagrant pulled away from placing his tiny charge on Embeee's large back, the branch of a tree got in the way of his hand, slicing across his wrist and palm. Plunging his hand into his pocket and pressing it against the fabric, the man pressed on. Leading the group down the winding road on the south of the hill and through the main streets of Coumarine city. Standing at the gate from the city was Chuey. Ryan didn't know where she spent the night but he was glad to see her. After a smile and a wave, the pair walked through the gate to the top of the staircase. Red dirt spread far to the south and east, a massive enclosed desert. After a quick stretch, Chuey patted tha bag at her hip. _"We're at the Badlands, guys, everyone come on out if you'd like!"_ There was an eruption of bright red light from the duffle bag, many avian and reptilian pokemon looking around the area. _"Feel free to do whatever you want, just stay close."_ She smiled, looking over at the Dodrio racing excitedly through the dust and clay. _"we come out here to train all the time since it's nice and open with plenty of air space. Not much water here, so your pokemon shouldn't have to worry about getting too wet"_ She noted, looking from Ryan to each of the pokemon around him. The large man chuckled and nodded, his thought's exactly.

Annwn gently lifted Fyr down off of the lioness' back. The moment his little paws sunk into the maybe two centimeter's of dust, he flopped to the side and began happily rolling around in the maroon particles. Ryan was too busy watching Chuey's Talonflame, about three quarters the size of Leveyr, circling an area to the east. _"Something's wrong.."_ Chuey muttered, obviously noticing it as well. With a whistle she pointed to what was now her Talonflame, and her Pidgeotto, before setting off in that direction herself. As the vagrant accompanied her, neither really noticed as their hands brushed each other during their march. Leveyr joined the circling birds, Annwn walked behind Ryan, and Embeee scooped up a grumbling dirty ball of fluff before trotting after them. Annwn plucked the small canine from her mouth and moved him to her back when the lioness caught up. When the group arrived at the spot the birds signaled, both of Chuey's returned themselves to their pokeballs in quick flashes of light. Nestled into the crevice between a pair of rocks, sheltered against the wind, was a small leathery creature with a very large mouth. The small Gible looked much like a small hammer head shark with arms and legs. It grumbled and recoiled as Chuey's hands gently reached down and plucked it from it's hiding spot, taking great care not to touch any of the obvious burns, bites, slashes and even, the bullet hole.

Cradling the small creature in her arms, Chuey turned to show it to the large man beside her. There was a puncture wound above the right eye, though it didn't reach too deep. _"They trained their pokemon on it"_ he mumbled, looking over the wounds he'd seen several times before. _"When they were done they tried to put it out of its misery."_ he dared not touch it, less blood from his cut seep into one of the creatures wounds. _"Too bad it's skull is so thick."_ the vagrant shook his head, noticing out of the corner of his eye as his friend's Bulb'd lizard companion lifted a rock nearby. A small puddle of red liquid oozed slowly from under the stone as it was lifted more and more, bubbling violently as it went. _"Get away from there"_ He shouted, recognizing the danger of lava near any living creature. Hearing the alert in his voice, the lizard immediately dropped the rock, galloping over to the viper lady as fast as it's little legs would carry it. The thing that confused Ryan though, was that when the rock fell back down on the liquid, it seeped back under. With the wind blowing strongly at his back he staggered forward, stumbling to the stone. When he arrived, the lava was no-where to be seen, and curious as to it's origins, the vagrant ripped the rock away from its resting place.

Under where the rock had sat was a bubbling pool of molten rock. It was only when a pair of eyes drifted to the surface and sat staring up at him that Ryan finally understood. _"I think it's a Slugma"_ he called over the wind while continuing to stare down at the small liquid creature. _"What're you doing this close to the surface during the day?"_ he puzzled, looking over the hole the small thing found itself in. As he looked, the puddle creature attempted to recoil from Ryan, but with no-where to go, even as it tried slithering out of the hole, its body only stretched from some point below it. _"I- I think it's stuck"_ he called. At this point the lady had made her way over, looking down and puzzling at how such a thing could get stuck. But more importantly, how to get it out. _"Slugma are little more than a couple organs and bones, all the liquid is produced by the organs heating rock to a magma shield. There are traps designed to snag a bone"_ Ryan responded, waving Annwn over and ripping a strip of cloth off of one of his shirts. _"I need a slow burning flame. Can you do that?"_ He scrunched the strip up and sat it on the ground, using his body to shield it from the wind. With a nod and a tap from his stick, Annwn set the cloth alight, though it burnt slowly and with little heat. Grabbing a rock from nearby, Ryan held it on the ground a distance away from the flame. Pushing it closer to the flame he stated clearly the word 'hotter' to the puddle, as he drew the stone away he declared 'cooler'. After repeating a couple times he completed his thought on what had to be done. _"I'm going to have to reach through it."_

Chuey simply stared down at the man, unsure she heard what she thought she'd heard. Ryan's last command was to say the word 'coldest' as he threw the stone as far away as he could. Pulling his right arm out of his trench coat, and having his left hand pull up the right sleeves of his shirts, Ryan slowly moved his hand closer to the bubbling liquid creature. _"I'm going to help"_ he said calmly and gently, his hand getting closer to the puddle that did not retreat. _"Cooler, cooler"_ he repeated as his hand began touching the surface. Small amounts of rocks began to form against his skin, almost acting as a shield between him and the liquid, though the hot air still scalded his face and forced him to close his eyes. _"Cooler"_ he winced, a shudder in his voice as his arm plunged deeper. After a moment his hand stopped sinking and he gained the look of a man searching where he could not see, complete with tongue jutting from the side of his mouth. _"Fuck, there's no release latch!"_ he snarled, thinking for a moment before looking at the floating eyes _"here... hotter hotter hotter hotter"_ he seemed to wince at a pain, but the area around his arms looked to be solid rock. _"Coldest"_ a distinct 'ting' sound could be heard before the ooze seemed to flow around Ryan's arms, melting the rock back into it at the end of the creature. It slipped up onto the rock he'd moved, sitting there looking at the man.

Chuey looks back and forth between Ryan with only a reddened, slightly steaming hand, to the slug sitting atop the rock, looking equally impressed as she was, mouth slightly ajar, completely speechless. Goosebumps could be seen over Ryan's body, he shivered a little before standing back up. _"That um.. that hurt"_ he blushed, looking away from Chuey and toward the little creature. _"Are you okay?"_ it rippled happily before slopping over to near his feet. _"How about yours?"_ Ryan asked, turning back to Chuey. _"Is the little lizard alright?"_ Chuey nodded in response, stroking the rough leather creature gently before feeding it some small blue berries. Moving over to have a look, the vagrant grew concerned at the small bullet wound. _"We're going to need to get that out. It could get infected."_ He looked down at the puddle of lava that seemed insistent on following him around. _"You want to help?"_ He knelt down, holding out his knife in a manner that did not unnerve the creature in front of him. _"Hold this for a little bit"_ he placed the blade against the surface, watching as all but the hilt sunk below before he stood back up. _"Annwn. Can you pull that out without hurting the poor thing"_ the vagrant pointed down at the wound before looking over at his companion, who stood eye to eye with him. A quick nod preceeded Annwn raising his stick, Chuey recoiling slightly before Ryan calmed her down. While the bullet in the hole slowly rattled its way back exactly how it had entered, the tall man fixed his coat before reaching down and plucking the knife from the puddle at his feet.


	18. Battle Barracks 1: Meeting Bruce

He was led through yet another generic door into a small office with an over sized desk and possibly too many potted plants. The papers on the desk were scattered horribly, in a way that made him twitch painfully upon entering. The guards moved his handcuffs to in front of him at this point, as was general practice during an office visit. Two heavy arms pushed the new prisoner down in the chair, the bolts in the feet would be enough to prevent most people moving it, and connected the chain of his handcuffs to a chain from the floor. Only once the door had slammed shut did the person behind the desk look man behind the desk wore the same orange clothes as the one chained to the chair, though the ensigna stitched onto his was a mark of status. His first question was a simple one, what did this new man know about the Battle barracks. _"Only what I can see from the rec yard."_ he shrugged, the man, who'se tag named 'edvain' nodded as he looked at a map of the two complexes splayed across his desk. _"I can see pokemon battles. I miss my pokemon"_ The new man admitted, hanging his head in embarrassment, the guard by the door chuckling quietly. Edvain however was far more understanding about the idea. Though he explained that any pokemon used in battles at the Barracks were not allowed to be transferred to the main complex, for security reasons.

 _"I am obligated to explain to you what battles are like in the Barracks."_ The man began, moving from his chair to sitting on his desk. _"Even though only gym battles are regulated outside, the normal everyday battles are nothing like what you see here"_ his gaze turned to the window, partially obscured by a frond. _"Inmates do anything to win"_ Edvain nodded, obviously remembering something he didn't feel comfortable telling the main chained to the chair. _"It's a well known practice for Pokemon to attack the opposing trainer in a match."_ He sighed, it was only when Edvain turned from the window that the chained man could see a list of names on a board under the light. _"Or even in some cases for a Trainer to attack the opposing pokemon"_ The officer strolled around his desk, the chain between his legs restricting his movements. _"Battles at the Barracks tend to be brutal and dangerous. Are you sure this is something you want to do?"_ in truth he just wanted companionship, and he'd rather it came from pokemon than some gang.

The two men were escorted from the room on the officers signal. The walk wasn't long, but involved passing through three security check points both before and after crossing a bridge over the road beside the prison. The Barracks was well cleaned and maintained inside the buildings, though the courtyard was trashed. The yard was overgrown in some areas, and barren in others. The Barracks was almost as large as the main prison complex, and contained facilities for; Medical care, Breeding, Official battling, training and Pokemon care. _"You'll start as a Private"_ the officer informed his charge. _"Each rank is based on an archaic military rank; Private, Corporal, Sergeant and Lieutenant are the ones you need to worry about"_ A computer system that responded to verbal requests, held general rank information on the roughly 1,700 Barracks members across the Kalos region. _"I doubt you'll ever see the higher ranks"_ The guide whispered under his breath, apparently secure in the belief that the man wandering nearby couldn't hear him.

 _"I'll warn you now"_ Edvain turned from his paperwork on the reception desk to look the other prisoner dead in the eyes. _"As a Private, your pokemon is the easiest target for proper attack training."_ He sighed, pausing while a particularly loud noise rumbled through the Barracks. _"You'll probably be picked out for battles a lot to start with, until you start winning some that is"_ He smirked, turning back to the paperwork. _"Though now that I think of it, some inmates prefer to offer themselves in place of their pokemon."_ The guard wouldn't let the prisoner wander far, not even to look out the window. _"I suppose if you're not averse to a couple burns and scratches you could try that"_ he smiled, handing the completed paperwork to the guard just as a particularly loud blast of light filled the room. Horrified, the prisoner/officer rushed to the window, yanking it open to yell out into the courtyard. _"Hey fuckwit! You almost hit a guard! Watch your shots!"_ The responding shout was less profanities and more actual apologies directed at the guard.

A sudden thought painted itself on the more experienced prisoner's face. _"Hey Private, come here, watch a battle"_ he pulled the new guy to the window. The three men in the courtyard were moving as much as the pokemon. Seven animals threw themselves around at the commands of the men, throwing themselves at each other and the men who'se barking they ignored. Blasts of fire singed the field, ripping across a creature that moved to cover one of them men. Just as quickly a pulse of water burst from the shielder, slamming into everyone else and hurtling them several lengths away from it. Even the inmates in the fight were grabbing and throwing, or being thrown or blasted by the creatures. _"Yea, official battles only really have two enforced rules"_ he corrected his earlier statement. _"Only two inmates can battle at once. And no more than two pokemon per side at any time"_ he nodded, continuing to look out the window. _"That's just a training battle, I think that guy's a Sergeant actually. Kinda hard for them to find competition I bet."_

Finally remembering that he's suppose to be introducing the other man to the Battle Barracks and everything that goes on in it, Edvain lead the way to the computer. Leaning against the wall he explained what could already be read on the plaque beneath it, followed by some actually helpful information for once. _"Your rank is based on your battle history with other inmates. The more high ranked guys you beat, the higher your rank. But the ranks are basically a percent thing, you're not getting high in the length of your sentence"_ He patted the confused man on the shoulder before sliding past and asking the guard for a cigarette. With his treat denied, he finally came back to finish his explanation. _"Everyone of each rank gets a number of points per month, an allotment of sorts."_ he tapped a chart above the computer, filled with things such as of all things; Pokemon medical care. _"This is the list of what you can spend your allotment on. The higher your rank, the more you get to spend."_

 _"So what about my pokemon"_ The new prisoner was growing impatient, this guy was pissing him off, he didn't really want to battle, he just wanted someone to talk to who didn't think he was a bad ass. It was the guard this time who moved behind the reception desk, using his ID card to log into the computer. The prisoners first partner was to be randomly determined based on his history. The barracks however didn't have pokeballs, pokeballs were too expensive to spend on off cast pokemon and inmates. A machine behind the guard whirred to life, building the little pokemon from data streamed in from somewhere beyond. The small creature was about as long as a man's leg, brown with black stripes and a wide snout with viscious teeth.

Name: Bruce

Species: Sandile

Type: Ground/Dark

Nature: Naive

Level Met: 5

Characteristic: Likes to thrash about.

HP 21, Atk 13, Def 9, 9, 7, Spd 13 ==+== | ==+==


	19. Chapter 18: Powers

Pointing gently to the scars and burns on the small leathery pokemon's hide, Ryan then moved his fingers to pointing at his eyes before doing a circular motion above his head. As oddly complex as this might seem, the large bird Leveyr seemed to understand immediately. It lept from the ground to begin a spiraling circle out from where they stood. Not long passed before Leveyr began a tight circle around a point not far away. _"Let's see what he found"_ Chuey muttered, not taking her eyes off of the large crimson bird as she began walking toward the circled area. The group soon came to an area with large rocks jutting out of the earth, various railways set up nearby. A lone young man in a familiar outlandishly red suit stood bored in between a couple of boulders, a houndour dozing on top of one of the rocks. Chuey's stride was quick and deliberate. Reaching the man she grabbed his tie, choking him slightly as she yanked him closer. _"You"_ She growled a in his face, the canine on the rock lifting its head to growl back. _"Are you responsible for hurting this gible"_ She demanded, even Fyr lifting his head to hear the situation a little better. The Flareon laid its head back down after a hand reached into its warm tuft of hair to scratch at its scalp. _"And that slugma?"_

As the woman with the green streak berated and screamed at the man, all the while cradling the little shark in her arms, the vagrant behind her simply chuckled. He recognized this poor sap, this man's ears have taken so much abuse already, it's quite possible he couldn't hear her anyway. For once Ryan considered that a gift, the woman's language was more than simply loud. She was vulgar and insulting, several times even making Ryan blush before he stepped in, leaning against the rock beside her and informing her that the man couldn't hear a word of it. _"Ooh you're the lovely little punk I hear tossed him off a cliff when he shot past you after you threatened to put a hole in his skull? Well here's some more news for ya,"_ She pulled him closer, much to his dismay as he was pushed away by the vagrants long-fingered hand. The vagrant looked into the woman's eyes as he explained where he had actually met the man before, and his very empty threat. _"You threatened to shoot kids"_ she snarled, glaring through the man's red-tinted shades as she slapped her side, the large serpent coiling up her body to reach across her shoulders. _"Do you know what I do to men that think they've got a pair and talk smack?"_ the Flare grunt shrank back further as Chuey yanked him closer, holding him up by his collar alone. _"I neuter em like a common house pet."_ Chuey hissed low, relishing in the Flare peon's paling further. _"Done it before and I'll gladly do it again"_ The grunt let out a whimper when he saw the harsh sunlight glinting off of the pokemon's cleaver-like bladed tail. The man, cowering, mumbled something as a card slipped from his jacket. Ryan's hawk picking it up and passing it to the large vagrant. Ryan chuckled, commenting that it was likely all she would get out of the man.

Her bone white fingers finally accepted blood flow again when Chuey dropped the man in front of her. Staggering to his feet, the man stumbled along the path slightly as he began his run to Lumiose City. The horned black canine sitting on the rock simply looked down at the group with its head cocked gently to the side. Though the creature hopped down off the large stone seat as the green haired woman's attention turned to him. _"Coward even left his pokemon."_ She crouched in front of the canine, who rolled over onto its back, presenting its throat, which Chuey scratched, smiling. _"You wanna come with us I take it?"_ The pokemon's stubby tail wiggled as it stood to touch its nose to Chuey's chin, staying low to the ground. She ruffled its short fur with a grin. _"Alright then! It gets a bit rough sometimes, but I'm sure you've seen that by now. Be sure to apologize to that gible too."_ The houndour immediately sniffed and found the squat lizard hiding behind Chuey's leg, carefully walking over and sniffing a still-healing wound before gently licking it.

The strange key card the man dropped was labeled 'Power Plant; Kalos, Simon winston', prompting Ryan to look further eastward toward the large solar power plant. Looking around for another couple minutes finally revealed a young lady banging on the door of an entrance tunnel. The few pokemon she had with her were all sitting around the area, watching as she pounded on the door and screamed for someone to let her in. However she became considerably quieter when a grumble from the lioness was louder than her insistent bashing. _"Mr Cabberin!"_ She was slightly startled, looking from the large man, down his arm to his hand and back up Chuey's to the viper woman's confused face. _"Team Flare has taken over the power plant!"_ She stepped away from the door, toward the large man. _"There's a blackout all over Lumiose City"_ letting go, Chuey marched forward, stepping around the lass in order to swipe the card. A loud buzzer sounded before the door slid eagerly open. _"If it's okay with you, I'll let you handle this okay? I'll keep watch!"_

Upon entering the small underground area, the majority of the pokemon with Chuey returned to their balls on their own, feeling claustrophobic, only the large serpent remaining outside of his ball, the gible and houndour staying by Chuey's side as well. The black and red canine pushed past Ryan's leg, brushing him slightly as he stood immediately next to Chuey's, nose tilted up slightly. As Annwn raised his stick, Ryan's hand wrapped around his wrist, pulling it back down. The hall dead ended at a large steel door, to which Ryan sighed, it possessed a key pad rather than a card slot. _"Don't suppose you have any way through?"_ He asked, turned back to look at Chuey with the swarm of fire- aspect pokemon behind her. Her instant reply was to berate him about having a huge group of fire pokemon, why not simply melt the door? _"Because the heat needed to melt this door would also be in the air, around us."_ He snapped back. _"Don't know about you but I'd rather not be incinerated"_ he turned back to the keypad, investigating it's wiring.

 _"I could just bombard the door with Bonnie and Clyde. Or have Gambino bash through it. Honestly any of those work fine with me, just choose one."_ she shifted her weight to one leg, a hand on her hip while the other tossed a pokeball rhythmically. _"I'm used to getting shit done by myself anyways."_ The houndour at her feet let out a low bark and took a few steps towards the door, looking back at Chuey questioningly. Chuey just sighs and mutters something to herself before lightly grabbing Ryan by his shoulder and moving him back. _"I suggest everyone make room then. C'mon, Clyde, let's show em how a break-in's done."_ she lets the dodrio out of his ball, the pokemon letting out a few cries of surprise at being in such an enclosed area. _"Alright, big guy. Can ya make that epic tri-beam or whatever happen? On this door."_ she points at the metal rectangle, the large bird pecking at it experimentally with its three long beaks before cawing back to its trainer. Chuey nodded and ushered the large group behind her backwards several feet. _"Everyone ready to fight? Cause this'll be loud."_ Chuey looked back at Ryan and the other pokemon, curiously watching the tri-headed bird bickering, probably over which head would use which element to attack the door with. Upon seeing Ryan's brows furrow, she held a hand up. _"Chill. It consists of fire, ice, and electricity, meaning that it'll heat the metal, quick freeze the door, and ensure everything goes well with the electricity. If it needs an extra push, we'll just use a triple drill peck. Busting down bank vaults is harder than this, I assure you."_ she turned back to her pokemon on her heel. _"Alright then, Clyde! Letter rip!"_

Upon the door almost exploding forwards from its hinges and into the next room, Clyde checked the doorway, cawing quietly when things were clear. Chuey sauntered past Ryan with a triumphant look on her face, patting the large bird's middle neck before hopping onto his back. _"May as well.."_ she mumbled as she urged the pokemon forward sharply, the three heads letting out loud cries as it rushed into the large open room, a few Team Flare grunts guarding multiple walkways above another large open space beneath them with walls of electricity flowing through it. _"Ryan, take the guy on the right walkway"_ She ordered, pointing to the men as she did so. _"I got the ones on the left and at the back! Get to the center"_ They began running around, many flashes of red and yellow light creating an interesting shadow show. _"we'll hold the rest of these losers off"_ she growled, slapping her bag and causing and explosion of red light, her many avian pokemon cawing at the various men and women around the chamber. Before she could charge ahead, Ryan interrupted by shouting for a bombardment and pointing to three locations around the room. The resulting volleys caused massive explosions, each launching a man or woman several lengths away from where they'd stood.

A loud shout stopped the battle, every person in their silky red suits turning to the upper balcony. At a door far above the main generator stood two women. The shorter one had tight cut orange hair, her dress seemed to frill out at the base and ended up looking almost like an umbrella with how she lent over the bars to look down at him. The other woman had dark violet hair and an outfit somewhere between a sprinter and a football player, decorated in red and black and sporting the curved flame like F of 'Team Flare'. Both women wore strange metallic gadgets over their eyes, but Ryan recognized them all the same. _"Fancy seeing you here Ryan."_ The woman bent over the bars called down. _"We all thought you were still in jail. When did you get out"_ He refused to dignify Aliana's question with an answer. _"As you can see we seem to have a stand off here"_ The other woman meanwhile seemed to be counting everyone slumped against a wall or pressed onto a walkway with burns covering their bodies, before leaning down to whisper to her associate. _"You've seriously wounded sixteen of us"_ She announced, many of the people rolling in pain in response. _"I'll make you a deal. You let us leave, and we'll never bother you again"_ The offer was tempting, the people did need serious help. _"Besides, We have Mable, what do we need you for?"_ His fist clenched at the name, long fingers digging into the skin of his hand. Drops of blood tumbled from beneath his knuckles, sizzling and bubbling against the metal walkway they fell upon.

 _"Down"_ He growled, each of the pokemon that had chosen to follow him stepping back and lowering themselves slightly. All except Fyr, who while sniffing a beam nearby was sparked on the wet nose. In response the little canine unleashed a short belch of flame that heated the metal enough that small ripples from it flowing down could be seen afterward. The few people in suits who were able to move, picked up their comrades and heaved them onto the back of one of many donkey-sized wolves. The woman with the violet hair, one of the last few to leave, skipped along happily and kissed the large vagrant on the cheek as she passed. Suppressing any anger, Chuey approached the man in the trench coat. She looked up at him expectantly for a moment before uttering a short but in no means sharp sentence. _"So, Prison."_ He hung his head, collecting Fyr up to prevent the little ball from making a fourth blast at something that sparked him. _"Can I ask what for?"_ She didn't seem aggravated, perhaps she wouldn't be terrified when he answered. Ryan Cabberin had killed a man, he was not sorry for it, and given the same situation he would do it again. _"Been there before. Only I didn't go to jail - wasn't ever caught, person killed never missed. If ya don't wanna spill on it, I won't push."_ He couldn't tell if she was being honest or jesting. In any case he explained very quickly, asking if she remembered a school shooting several years prior. _"yeah."_ She nodded slowly. _"Thought that the teach had some guts in'im"_ She smiled sweetly up at him as her hand clasped his, leading him slowly out of the chamber. _"I can see it though - I'm sorry that jackass attacked your students and you got in trouble for it."_ He breathed a sigh of relief, the pup in his arms barking in alarm at having one hand less support as he pulled himself up more on Ryan's arm. _"Frankly, he got what he deserved and you didn't"_


	20. Chapter 19: Battle Begins

After Chuey had taken his hand in hers, Ryan noticed the small canine being propped up by his other arm struggling to keep itself from falling. With a smile, the large man shifted his companions hand to around his upper arm and returned to supporting the grumbling old dog. _"Frankly, he got what he deserved and you didn't"_ It was sweet of her to say, but the truth was he couldn't let the man harm the children. The moment the vagrant explained this to her, the normally hard and aggressive woman wrapped her arms around him. Both the large horned, black dog and the small fluffy crimson one barked in surprise at this act. _"Could you...teach me something? I dropped out - hell I didn't even finish grade school"_ she looks down, cheeks a little pink from embarrassment. _"You sound like a good teacher"_ she whispered, causing an equally embarrassed smile from the large man. As far as he was concerned, Ryan had never really stopped teaching, not long before he'd explained the anatomy of a creature that looks like a puddle. The creature in question happily sloshing along behind him.

Retracing their steps back to the entrance, Ryan and Chuey opened the door to be momentarily blinded by the bright sunlight outside. Blinking the world back into focus, they found themselves staring at a swarm of men and women in pressed red suits. Hundreds of large snarling black wolves accompanied the large mob of arrogant grinning clones. On the ground in front of the group was a young lass with long brown hair. A foot pressed down on her thighs which themselves dug into the red clay. The hand on the man digging her legs into the ground was pulling on her hair to make sure she 'stood' as straight as she could on her knees. The red streaks on her cheeks almost seemed to be the wake of boiling tears scalding her skin. A huge winged lizard with two horns and a long tail lay in front of her, large chunks ripped from its long neck and chest and huge tears in its wings. The creature didn't move, not even its chest heaved from shuddering breathes. A small fox standing on it's hind legs was held under the chin with a pistol against it's head beside her. The grinning woman with the frill bottom dress laughed at the confused two standing just outside the door. _"Are you serious Ryan?"_ Aliana grinned, shaking her head. _"Did you really think we'd just leave?"_ The woman pulled herself to sitting on the back of a monstrously large snarling black and grey wolf. _"Take them. Lysandre can decide what to do with them"_ she spat before turning her strange steed around and dashing through the red dust.

Seated atop the the large cliff not far from this showdown, was the man who had introduced the two to the Lapras. Sitting with his hat beside him, he slowly unwrapped the bloody bandage from his head. The large purple bat handing him another roll from his bag which he promptly began securing to his skull to halt the two bleeding spots. Far below him, the man watched as the mob of more than a hundred people began began encroaching on the two standing outside the entrance to some path underground. Just before the two exited there had been an exodus of those in red, which met reinforcements on their way from Lumiose. His attention seemed split however, focus on something unseeable between himself the the groups, something moving toward him.

Eight of the large black and grey wolves began slowly marching toward the two at the commands of their masters. Many of them simply pushing people out of the way in their steady pace forward, snarling viciously as they broke the line and passed the lass still held by her hair and knees. The little ball of fluff pressed against Ryan's chest could feel as his heart began to race. With little more than a thought, Annwn created a shimmering shield of light around the small group. The security did little to quell Ryan's building rage as the one man picked Shauna up off her knees, turned her to pressed against his chest and placed his pistol against the top of her head pointed down. Many of the other men in the front line pulled out their guns and threatened to fire if the group didn't come quietly. One man's warning shots simply became lodged in the barrier, sitting there harmlessly as these terrifyingly huge, snarling, prickle haired black wolves passed harmlessly through the shield. In an eruption of red light, Chuey was surrounded by lizards all intent on protecting her. The thought of either of these two ladies being hurt, this woman he cared about, or this child, sent the vagrant's heart racing and his breathing erratic and furious. Little more is needed than a rapidly beating heart and unusual breathing to tell someone is stressed, especially when you're being gripped in safety and held to the person's chest. Fyr's head tilted back and he meekly licked Ryan's chin.

When the lick didn't calm Ryan, Fyr attempted nuzzling him, only to find that not even that could relieve the stress. The old and blind canine couldn't see what was happening, he could only barely hear the shouts and snarls of everything around him. Whoever was making Ryan scared or angry was a bad person, who Fyr needed to punish. With no care for how much the sheer power could hurt himself, Fyr looked forward toward the snarling and the shouting. With a deep exhale that completely emptied his weakened lungs, the Flareon created an immense torrent of fire that whipped side to side and destroyed Annwn's shield. The fire melted rock and peeled the skin of the large wolves, which in turn threw themselves out of the new wall of fire and back toward their masters. The wall stood twelve meters tall and gave off enough heat to excite the old pup. _"Good boy, Good boy fear"_ Ryan muttered, stroking the incredibly hot tuft of fur on the little one's head. _"Leveyr!"_ Ryan shouted, his arm moving from supporting Fyr for just a moment. _"Gimme her"_ before it moved back to lift up the little dog as he continued to stroke it's pelt.

Ryan blinked, his eyes seeming completely glazed over. The huge maroon bird swooping in to tear the young lass from the man's grip before he could fire a shot. The vagrant dropped to his knees, light glowing through the back of his trench coat as he grabbed his head, Fyr hopping out of his arms and barking frightened up at him. As a man on the other side of the wall attempted to pull the trigger and silence Shauna's Braixen, it snapped its head to the side and with a mouth full of fire bit his arm. Four spoons and Ryan's knife drifted from the vagrant's pockets, hovering in the air and circling his head as the man seemed to flicker between himself and some strange gold skinned creature with several horns on its head. The fiery bombardment from Ryan's pokemon seemed to cease, all flames instead merging into a single giant tongue that lashed at the crowd, snaking through and striking the humans, not the pokemon. The man atop the cliff, after drawing his hand away from rubbing some non-existent thing in front of him, pointed to the wall of fire below and seemed to push this nothingness. After a little more than a minute of being fed heat by every fire pokemon in the area, the seemingly sentient mass of fire pulled back, shaping into an enormous Draconian head that loomed out of no-where. It's roar shook the ground as it turned from a red to a blue-ish green fire. The huge fiery dragon continued to ravage the swarm of people. Many quick blinks of red light in the shadow of the blue flame, as pokemon vanished from the area, several trainers fleeing. One man hobbled painfully with a seared leg and several with burnt arms and backs.

The people in the pressed red suits had all fled, leaving only Chuey, Shauna, an unconscious Ryan and their pokemon in the vicinity of the power plant door. The lass seemed surprisingly elated for what she had just witnessed, apparently certain that that had been a final farewell from her friend the charizard. The large creatures body had somehow vanished. Her Braixen clung to her hip frightened and the small creature on a flower hovered beside her ear, having spent the entire encounter in her pocket. Annwn picked up the unconscious vagrant and laid him across Embeee's back, stashing the spoons and knife back in his pockets. _"He has to go to the pokemon center"_ Chuey declared, though no-one seemed to argue they all knew it would be an issue once Ryan awoke. The blind canine, sitting on the clay nearby barked nervously being unable to tell where Ryan was. Picking him up, Shauna quietly soothed the old dog, even letting him sniff where the man was laid across the lioness's back.


	21. Chapter 20: A pulse

It was quite a sight, a troupe of Fire aspect pokemon strolling through the streets of Lumiose city. The two women in lead were approached by police a couple times, each time the younger lass explaining that the man needed medical care. The police should have escorted them or at least taken the man themselves. However, each time they approached the horse-sized lioness, the warning heat eminating from every creature warded them away. The nearest doctors could always be found in a pokemon center, which is exactly where Shauna and Chuey took the unconcious man. The attending nurse immediately called for assistance upon seeing the man, rolling him off onto a stretcher before wheeling him into a back room for care. The room he was eventually settled in was a small, one bed recovery room. Only the taller woman with black and green hair was allowed to accompany him into the room, sitting with him as attendants and trainers in the lobby tried explaining to the younger lass and the troupe of pokemon why they could not go with. Chuey sat on a chair beside Ryan's bed, the toes of her right shoe remaining on the ground as her knee down to the heel bounced slightly in some form of nervous impatience.

* * *

As time slowly ticked by, each of Ryan's pokemon quietly snuck into the room with him. The last in, Annwn, sat upon a chair on the opposite side of the vagrant's bed from Chuey. The blind canine lay curled up on the sheets, gently prying the large man's feet apart. Because of how big, and therefore obvious, Embeee and Leveyr were, they sat beside the door. The large lioness growling at anyone who so much as looked at her through the doorway. A needle, embedded in the large man's arm, fed him drugs intended to keep him unconcious as various tests were run on a small sample of his blood. For hours doctors and nurses moved in and out of the room, never addressing the woman or slew of creatures in the room. Several times the large, hot rock on the ground moved itself out of the way of stray legs until it eventually just sat quietly under Annwn's chair. It's eyes unblinkingly watching the goings on. The only thing anyone in the room could really discern from the constant action and the cryptic few words the doctor's occasionally exchanged near the room, was that something was inside Ryan. Something else was living within the large man.

Time after time the young woman shouted at the doctors that they'd taken enough. They could do their tests on the blood they had. But each time, about a half an hour later the doctor's would return. Each time they claimed that to better understand what's wrong with him, they needed to run more tests. On maybe the fourth hour, a younger doctor entered the room and closed the door behind himself. Standing at the foot of the bed he simply looked at the vagrant before turning to the woman beside him. _"These aren't your pokemon are they?"_ He asked calmly, Chuey grumbling that at the obviousness of the question. _"I apologise for the constant activity."_ He smiled, crossing his hands in front of him. _"The last time Mr. Cabberin recieved medical care, he broke the arms of three orderlies before leaving."_ The young doctor's eyes didn't move off the sleeping man. _"We never got the samples we hoped for before."_

A moment passed in silence as the young man turned the pages on a clipboard before looking to the dark haired woman. He then apologised, asking her what happened that led to her bringing Ryan here. _"Long story made short: Shit went down in the badlands, that's all you need to know."_ The doctor nodded, not pressing for any additional information. Instead he moved around the bed, checking the large man's skin for scars or signs of injury. Ryan's body was covered with bites and burns, cuts and scars. But one bite stood out, a large series of teeth marks around the man's shoulder, as if he has his arm in something's throat. The skin around the bite had been burnt, sealing it closed. The younger man went on to explain that he felt sorry for whatever took a bite out of him, for Ryan's blood contained something apparently similar to cyanide. As strange as this information might seem, it did not surprise Chuey. Ryan had told her he was poisonous.

Another doctor entered the room, whatever he was saying didn't make sense to Chuey, though she was able to pick up a few things. The cells of Ryan's blood contained some form of biological acid, though it was only a problem when released from the cells. During their strange discussion, the vagrant began to stir. The doctors waited for him to finally be fully aware before they addressed him. _"Don't be alarmed Mr. Cabberin"_ the young doctor began. _"You're safe here"_ Ryan seemed to disagree, shouting about not wanting to simply be a vial to of blood to test. _"We can't allow you to leave just yet."_ The man continued, placing his hand on the vagrant's chest to hold him down as he began to sit up. _"You have a white blood cell count of zero. Which typically indicates leukaemia."_ Ryan simply stared at the man before collapsing back onto the bed in a huff. Pointing to his trench coat over the back of Chuey's chair, he asked for the pokeball, ignoring the doctor's questions as he waited. Chuey drew two spheres, one red and white the other black and bronze, from the pocket. Handing the red ball to the patient she returned the bronze one to the pocket and passed Ryan his tools.

While he set about popping the top and bottom shells off the small sphere, Ryan's eyes didn't leave the doctor before him. _"I'll make you a deal, hopefully it'll make you people leave me alone."_ his piercing eyes didn't move, didn't blink as he checked the loopback device was held on well. _"You have until I finish fixing this ball to get what you want from me"_ The doctor began reciting his objections, but gave up after a couple minutes of Ryan simply looking down at the mechanism in front of him. Chuey was eventually jolted back awake in the early hours of the morning, before the sun had even risen, as Ryan unplugged himself. Leaning down over her, he slipped the ball back into his trenchcoat pocket. While he removed the coat from the chair, their faces sat only the length of Chuey's finger from each other. A sly grin as he flicked the coat on and moved to the end of the bed. The lass stretched and yawned quietly while the vagrant near her stretched his fingers on the end of the bed. _"I know you want out of Lumiose, but I need to go to the gym first."_ He told his companion as their troupe began navigating the halls out of the building. The Lumiose pokemon gym was an immense tower in the center of the city. The white tower was tall enough to be seen from every part of the not at all small city. Cables under the ground transported electricity from the power plan to the tower, which regulated it's distribution to the rest of Kalos.

* * *

The large towers automatic doors produced a generic welcome sound as they slid apart to allow the two access to the entry hall. A woman at a counter nearby smiled at Ryan and Chuey, asking if either of them were there to challenge the gym. The large vagrant declined, the blind ball of fur in his arms intently sniffing in the direction of the receptionist. Instead, this foul smelling man in a trench coat wished to discuss a matter of business with the gymleader. The receptionist sighed and began setting about arranging an appointment for the large man. Ryan's hand slammed onto the desk, two paws sitting beside it mainly to help keep Fyr's balance, as he growled at the woman to call Clemont and tell him that the only man he ever visited in prison was there to speak with him. Her shaky voice delivered his message, and after only three minutes, the elevator doors slid open to reveal a young boy, no older than fourteen. _"Mr. Cabberin! It's wonderful to see you again."_ he beamed at them, striding over with the confidence of a man in charge. _"And this is-?"_ Ryan took the cue to introduce Chuey to Clemont, Gym leader of Lumiose city, 'man' in charge of of the electrical grid for the whole of Kalos. _"A pleasure to meet you ma'am. Sir, have you come for a job? I'm sorry but we only use electrical pokemon here"_ The boy seemed quite concerned about Ryan's companions, but was calmed when the older man dispelled such opinions. _"Would you like a tour? I've used a couple of your ideas and a lot of my own to make the grid as efficient as possible. We could run DC if the supply drops enough to require it."_ Though he hid his intentions as best he could, both Ryan and Chuey could see the child within bursting to show his hero his accomplishments.

 _"I'm sorry Clemont. I really can't stay. I just came to give you this"_ the vagrant's large hand pressed an odd shaped small metal contraption into the boy's hand. _"I made it to keep a pokemon in its very old ball as I fixed the materializer"_ he stopped the boy asking the most obvious question. Clemont nodded, turning it over to inspect the wiring. _"I didn't want to just destroy it in case you could find some use for the technology"_ Clemont smiled and nodded, listing in rapid succession about ten or eleven uses he could think of to integrate the odd mechanism. As the adults turned to leave the tower, the boy's white sleeved arm grabbed Ryan's dark woolen covered on. A parting request was left for if Ryan was heading north, to check on the Pokeball factory. The factory had been draining a huge amount of energy since the power had been restored and no-one was answering the phone. With a nod, Ryan joined Chuey at the sliding door entrance.


	22. Chapter 21: Guilt

As the group stopped at the side of the road, all but the milky eyed canine looked to their left. Fyr meanwhile sniffed curiously at the pavement. Ryan was the first, and only one to step out on the one way street. A strong blaring of a car's horn snapped the man's head to his right. A large car was stopped only a couple meters from him, headlights at full blast in the midday light. The driver honked the horn again, prompting the large vagrant to look to his left and around at the various signs and markings showing one way. The car should not exist, and yet the engine revved and the bulk of metal lurched forward at him. Not missing a beat, Ryan sidestepped up to the bonnet, laying his torso across the vehicle and crying out in mock fear and pain. _"Ahhhh! I've been hit"_ The driver climbed out of the still running vehicle and strutted up to the large man. As soon as the driver pulled his fist to strike the 'wounded' man, Ryan stood up and grabbed the man by the top of his head. Turning the unwilling skull to the ground nearby he asked in a tone not unlike when one explains what a child did wrong; _"Which way is that arrow pointing?"_ The man complied and pointed. _"What does that sign say?"_ the man complied again before he was turned to face his own vehicle. _"Do you see a problem here?"_ The driver grumbled, complaining about having to do a block to get his parking spot, but promptly climbed into the vehicle and turned it around.

At his signal the group of pokemon, with Chuey and her serpent in the center, crossed the small one way street to one of the exits from the grand Lumiose city. The gate in the wall was fairly unused, the receptionist laid pack in his chair with both feet on the counter in front of him. The old man seemed confused as to whether he should put his feet down, or if this armada of red was just a hallucination of some form. Ryan didn't stay to witness the man's decision, instead stepping out in to the small area outside the city. Thick overgrown grass covered the area, winding through the slats of the park benches and distributed as merely patches of long greenish brown hair in the sand pit. Rusted but solid bars still held up the swings and greying metal slide, the brown and grey steel both fit and contrasted the background. A thick mass of trees with stale water around their roots and branches that reached down as clawing beasts stretched onward to the north and in the area around the small playground. Light streamed through holes in the canopy of the trees, spotlighting the water. Small wooden spikes rose from the liquid around the base of the trees, natural spears shooting up from the shallows, hinting at the more that could not be seen.

The northern swamps were a familiar scent to the large man. Ryan lowered his weight onto one of the wooden board, hanging by chains from the pole above him. His hands sat in his lap, refusing to rub any of the flaking rust off the chains next to him. Quietly he rocked back and forth, straightening and curling his legs to move him only slightly as he looked around. The playground was suffering a sad snowballing effect. Parents wouldn't let their kids play here anymore, because of how ruined and horribly overgrown it had become. However, the last time he laid eyes on the area only a couple years ago, it was in perfect condition and yet the parents didn't want their children playing in it. Every breath he took was in his mouth, out his nose while he watched his group of companions investigating the area. Fyr's sniffing of the long grass, led him to sneeze. Each slightly flammable sneeze caught with the thick pungent air and twisted into a huge burst of hot air that turned all grass he was facing to ash. The large man picked up the canine, placing it on his lap as he rocked back and forth, ignoring the thick smell of decaying plants and animals from the north.

The large, long haired lioness placed her front paws on the swing beside the vagrant. With difficulty the feline attempted to pull herself up on the small wooden board, only succeeding in ending her knees such that her chest was pressed against it. A squawk from the enormous hawk grabbed her attention. It's little head poked through the top of the grass as it squawked again at the lioness. Ryan could see Embeee stepping away from the swings to follow the little red feathered head bobbing through the grass out of the corner of his eye. The man's attention was more drawn to the rusted metal slide and the shadows beneath it. Something was reaching from the dark, muddy ground beneath the slide. The more he watched, the clearer he saw the small fingers twitching, their nails covered in a mix of dirt and blood. Throwing himself off the swing, with Fyr still in hand, the vagrant strolled over to the rusted metal. Placing the milky eyed canine beside him, Ryan reached under the slide. As his hands sunk into the dirt to throw clumps away to the side, little cream covered furry paws joined him in digging. The childs arm kept going until it branched off into a mass of root. After shaking his head, the small dead shrub became clearer.

With a sigh, the large man stroked the head beside him, looking around at everyone in the part with him. Noting that no matter where he looked, the fiery puddle was no-where to be seen. Chuey rocked back and forth on a swing, the dark clouds rolling in over her head appearing as some heavy aura. Leveyr sat perched on the crossbeam above her, but the lioness was no-where to be seen. The vagrant stood, leaning back against the rusted metal slide as he looked around. The more concerned he got the clearer it became that neither the Slugma nor the Pyroar were anywhere nearby. A gentle squeaking slowed but didn't stop, and as the man's eyes fell upon the swing he watched it rock back and forth, empty and abandoned. She was gone, they were gone. Desperately he reached down and siezed the old pup, clutching the fluffball close as the last squawk of the large bird echoed in his ear, being slowly replaced by the rolling peel of thunder. Annwn stared at him, confused, the man's face painted thick with concern and fear. Where were they all? Where did they go?

 _"Annwn, come here"_ Ryan called, not taking his eyes off the large fox, gripping Fyr close to himself. Turning again and again on the spot, he could not see any of them. The only person he saw was a little girl, standing between two trees not too deep into the forest. The shadow of the canopy and the blackening sky hid her features, but she was obviously a girl, and she was clearly looking at him. Slowly, carefully, the large man strode across the abandoned playground, striding toward the trees with Annwn by his side. She didn't move, only stood there watching him come closer. Only two meters from her, the cloaked man lowered himself to his knees, trying to get a better look at her face. _"Are you okay?"_ His concern was evident, the forest was dangerous, and he was already afraid. After a moment more of staring at him, the little girl turned and ran, her feet not sinking at all into the water of the swamp, not that Ryan noticed anyway.

As quickly as he could pull himself to standing, Ryan made chase. It wasn't safe, clearly, for a child to be out here. The little light that did break the canopy and the clouds was only just enough to know vaguely where the trees were. It wasn't long before the little girls shape was gone completely. Looking around frantically, it was at this point the vagrant realised that even Annwn was gone. A tongue licked at his lower jaw, prompting him to pat the milky-eyed dog's head gently. He was lost. Ryan had no clue which way was Lumiose, no idea which way he had intended to go. All he knew was that the darkness was heavy, and closing in, and his clothes were being pulled by fingers in the dark. Snapping branches as he ripped himself away from unseeable hands that groped for him in the dark.

A snap of wood nearby, someone was close. Someone was following him. Blinded by shadows, the vagrant rushed as much as he could toward the sound, only to hear it again from some other side, turning to pursue it again. Everytime he got close- Something grabbed his leg. Only once, but a hand grabbed his jeans leg. Turning around, the vagrant could see clearly in a rare beam of light, the figure of a small boy. The child's legs were beneath the surface as he clung to the man's leg. _"Help me"_ he pleaded, trying to reach higher up Ryan's jeans as he sank deeper. _"Mr. Cabberin! Help me!"_

Terrified of letting go of his oldest, and final, friend, Ryan clung to Fyr with one hand as he reached down with the other. Upon grabbing the child's wrist, he watched as blood seemed to pour from large holes along the small arm. Colour drained from the boy's face, his eyes becoming sunken as his face locked into a final scream. The cold, white shape being pulled quickly below the surface after the blood stopped flowing. On his knees, Ryan reached into the murk with one hand, frantically scraping and searching. A sharp clicking sound grabbed his attention, forcing the man to look up, along the barrel of the gun pointed at him and to the shadowed figure holding it. With a blink both the man and the gun were gone.

Reaching out, the large man's hands grabbed a nearby rock, pulling him away from the murk and mud that seemed intent on dragging him below. As he pulled, a boot pressed against his fingers, grinding them down against the rock. Reflexively, Ryan reached out, grabbing the foot with his other hand and ripping it off, ignoring the figure to which it belonged. With both hands firmly on the rock he pulled himself up against it, half standing, half collapsed. Looking around in horror. The couldn't hear Fyr, he couldn't see the little white tufts of fur anywhere. No matter how he called and bellowed, nothing happened.

With his head in his hands, the large man staggered away, pushing away from the trees as he went; calling, pleading for Fyr. Though his begging was cut short when he entered a small clearing, wherein he could see two children. A young boy, and a young girl, stood in the middle of the little light there was, lit well enough to show off the myriad of bleeding holes all across their chests and arms. A point below the eye of the little girl making her appear to be crying a single stream of red tears. The teacher rushed over, dropping to his knees in front of the children, who collapsed against him. Their skin and muscles peeling away at an accellerated rate, insects crawling across them as their bodies shriveled and decayed. It wasn't only the three of them however, Ryan and the bodies were joined by a great many figures. Shapes standing in a continuous circle all around the clearing, watching him.

Not three meters from the tearful man, set upon his knees, stood a tall figure cloaked in shadow. A shape that held a gun by it's side, which it slowly raised. Body shaking, Ryan dropped the two children in his arms and charged the figure. Launching himself from his knees to midstride easily. His body collided with the shape, slamming it against a sturdy wooden wall. A wall that had not existed before, he was sure of it.

The figure wore a mask to hide it's face, which Ryan ripped off quickly. What he saw was his own face, smiling back at him, covered with blisters and boils as it grinned at him. the figure raised the gun to it's chin. In a flash of light, blood sprayed up the wooden wall before the shape and all its remnents vanished. The vagrant only saw his own reflection in the dirty, unkept window, a face that for a moment was replaced by the face of a golden creature, who'se head was shaped as a pentagram. In the reflection, behind his own face he could see familiar green hair and a concerned expression. Spinning on the spot he saw Chuey, her eyes furrowed, though widening as she realised he could see her. Fyr at her feet and Annwn at her side. The large man slid down the wall until a jolt as he hit the ground. They were all there. They would all watch as he placed his head in his hands.


	23. Chapter 22: Cafe

Ryan struggled to extract his right foot from the thick mud, slamming it down into the muck infront of him before pulling at the other. Just as he freed his left foot, something strong wrapped itself around his submerged ankle. Letting his left foot fall back into the muck he reached down to grab at whatever had seized him, feeling it constrict around his joint as he did. It was thick and muscular. The tentacle pulled him down as another reached up to grab his other foot. All at once the ground beneath the surface ceased to be, allowing this thing to drag him below the surface. The vagrant's face broke the surface of the water and the world above was gone. It was an endless, murky expanse, water pressing in at him on all sides. A deep red glow in the depths of the water nearby grew larger and brighter. Another three tentacles wrapped around the large man's throat, clenching as the aqua skull with red lights drifted into view, an all encompassing vile red light emanating from beneath its rim. It's brilliant light woke him upon the dingy floor.

He had sat against an old wooden wall, leaning against rotting planks with his head in his hands. His family simply stood around him watching for a moment, Chuey knealing down to place her arms around him silently. After a minute he stood, thanking her for staying with him. The building they were standing at was old and collapsing, just as the sky appeared to be. Gentle droplets landing on the ground around them prompted Ryan to open the door and signal the group inside. Without a thought, the group moved up the stairs inside the small house, taking a rest on the floor above. Where Ryan lurched from a nightmare only a few hours later.

The city of Laverre was more a village. Only a few buildings, the most notable being a large structure bearing both an enourmous tree and a thirteen hour clock. Emblazoned above the door was three letters the Vagrant had grown use to seeing on the most lavish buildings in a town. Not far from the trail into the village sat a quaint little cottage with an awning and shaded tables. A little girl flipped the sign beside the door from closed to open, latching the simple glass door open. The little girl stared at the group a moment before running inside. An older gentleman, complete with cane, came to the door. The man smiled at Ryan and Chuey, waving them over warmly. _"You've been through hell haven't you lad?"_ The man smiled warmly once Ryan's first footstep fell upon the wooden landing. _"You all must be hungry. Breakfast is our treat, really"_ Suspicious, but gracious, Ryan led his small troupe to a table nearby. He pulled a chair out first for Chuey, then for Annwn. Two large talons clicked against the metal of the umbrella from atop it. Fyr happily sat on Ryan's lap, paws on the table as he sniffed intently. Embeee and the Slugma coiling at the large man's feet.

The elderly gentleman and little girl approached shortly after the group had settled at the table. _"Most people keep their pokemon locked in pokeballs. Thank you for giving them the freedom to see the world."_ The old man poured the two small cups of tea as the little girl set out small bowls of food pellets for the many pokemon. The old man gave the vagrant a gentle pat on the upper arm before escorting the child away. Speechless the vagrant looked to Chuey, who quietly sipped her tea before releasing in a flash of red light a small creature about the size of her finger.

 _"Oh wow! Is that a Flareon?"_ A boy no older than Shauna rushed over to the table, stopping several meters short once his brain made the connection on how many pokemon were there. Ryan smiled, letting the young boy know it was fine to come over and say hello, only the woman might bite. Chuey's eyes narrowed at the large man as the boy approached. Fyr sniffed the lad's outstretched hand, tilting his head down and yipping happily. The boy intentionally avoided touching Fyr's fluffier fur, their heat scaring him away. _"I've always wanted a Flareon"_ The boy smiled, a flash of red light materialising a fluffy brown canine beside him. _"Look Kay? This is a Flareon. If I could find a Fire stone, you could be a Flareon too!"_ The pup barked excitedly, it's poofy tail swishing excitedly.

 _"Kay hmm"_ Ryan responded. _"Does Kay want to be a Flareon?"_ he asked, one eyebrow raised as the strange little critter rolled around in Chuey's hand, simply happy to be out of the pokeball. The boy admitted somewhat embarressed that he didn't know. _"Would you be upset if she didn't evolve into a Flareon?"_ He asked, the hand between Fyr and the pup moving away from supporting the milky eyed canine, simply drooping over the side of the chair. The boy thought a minute before finally stating that he might be a little upset at first, but if Kay was happy, he was happy. _"That's a very mature way to think about it."_ The large vagrant stretched his arm out to scratch the head of the small ball of fluff beside the lad, taking a drink of tea with his other. The boys exclaimation told him everything he needed to know, the vagrant pulled his hand away from the younger Flareon and returned it to petting the very old one.

 _"Oh"_ Mr. Cabberin looked to his companion. _"I promised Clemont I'd check out the Pokeball factory. I won't be long"_ He smiled at her _"Could you please watch this lot? Leveyr, Embeee. Stay, protect Chuey."_ He lifted Fyr in his arms as he walked, obviously not intending to let go any time soon. As Chuey sat with Leveyr and Embeee, the two looked at her before going back to gently snoozing. The factory stood on the edge of town, hidden by the trees of the surrounding forest and overshadowed by the large gym in the center of the village. Large stones painted as pokeballs and attached with commemorative plaques. Each plaque detailing an important moment in the development of the modern pokeball. The electronic doors pinged open, sliding apart to reveal a woman in a red suit standing in the foyer.


	24. Chapter 23: A ghost inside me

It was like that last time too, the sunlight off the windows of the large building atop the hill at the end of the road reflect the sun seemingly directly to his eyes at every place he stood. Walking up the road forced the large man to bow his head to avoid glare, almost as if he were held some reverence for the place. It wasn't a steep path, enough to know you were heading uphill a ways. At intervals he didn't care to guess there were large statues of pokeballs on pedestals alongside the driveway. Each statue showing a different model of pokeball, their development over time. In fact, the factory itself was a newer model. The third iteration of the Kalos pokeball factory, shining down its blinding light on him. He didn't even need to see who stood at the doors to know what the problem was, why the building was eager for more and more energy. He could feel the beat in his toes despite even the huge mechanisms. How could anyone think music that loud was a good thing? Perhaps its not so mysterious given their choice of attire.

The bass was almost making his ears bleed as the large man, covering the ears of the little flareon in his arms approached the factory's front doors. He couldn't hear what the woman in red was trying to shout at him over the stupid song. The longer the music went, the more uncomfortable the pup seemed to be getting. She waved a pistol, apparently intent on making the large vagrant leave. As he stood there he watched in bemusement at her growing frustration. Ryan stepped forward and the woman stepped back. Neither could hear over the music but both seemed certain of the outcome of the moment. Her sleek red suit seemed newer than the others he'd seem, perhaps as fresh as the day before. The man reached for the gun as the beat quickened. You couldn't hear it over the music, you couldn't hear anything over the music, but Ryan had to laugh. He was impressed by her conviction and aim as he dropped to his knees, liquid running into the bundle of fur in his arms. A little tongue licked his heavy arm, nervous and scared.

The gun had flashed only twice, and the two stings in his upper chest relieved any fear that the old pup in his arms had been hurt. The door opened for two others in red clothes. his blurring vision obscured everything but just the redness of the whole moment. Heat and the vibrating of a growl in his arms made the large man curls his arms more, protecting Fyr from the two arms that grabbed him by the shoulders, dragging him inside. **"Be calm"** was all he thought, reaching out to Annwn walking behind him with the little pile of lava. The music was suddenly much quieter once the door closed, though Mr. Cabberin could not discern whether it was the thickness of the walls of the blood draining from his head that clouded the noise. His knees slammed against each stair he was dragged up, a dull pain that eased a fraction of a second before the next hit. 50 stairs. With a break halfway as they turned him to continue upward. He felt the ground slam into his shoulder as the arms released him, muffled voices both calm and frantic spoke above him.

 _"You can't be serious"_ The voice was far away, echoing just a little above his head. _"What have you done He's dying!"_ Ryan could see a woman take Fyr, her lab coat stained with his blood as she gently stroked the frightfully yipping pup. Someone's hands were ripping at his shirt, one of his only shirts, A person's whole weight pressing down on the stings. _"We need an ambulance"_ The vagrant raised his arm, trying to feel out the area around where he lay. _"He'll die if you don't"_ Another distant voice began its muffled shouting in response. Only armed with the second speakers tone, the dying vagrant knew the conversation. The large man's arm turned such that his fist was pointed to the door. _"You want to be responsible if he dies?"_ It didn't take much effort to lift his middle finger toward the second speaker, resulting in the obvious slamming of a door.

In the frantic shouts and attempts to wrap his wounds, Ryan could feel a little wet tongue on his right cheek, while some very very hot slime oozed over his foot. _"Whiskey"_ He mumbled, some voice agreeing that it would clean the wound. These people were not in their element, and in honesty Ryan had only bled this much once. He thought she wouldn't fire, she seemed too new to all this. Groaning in pain he reached up and stroked the little ball of fluff as another, new voice entered the conversation. A little shock could be heard through the room but they seemed to accept the notion quickly. A full body cascade of pain almost launched the vagrant off the ground as the whiskey slithered into his open wounds. With vigor no-one expected from him he snatched _"why am I so weak?"_ he pulled the bottle to his lips, swallowing 4, 5 mouthfuls. Annwn's voice was clearer now, telling the humans to step aside while he seals the wounds. A strong, authoritative voice from such a young fox. When the hot poker touched his flesh, Ryan growled and snatched it away. Panting, he sat up _"Bullets are still inside."_ The people were telling him to lay back down, to relax, they would deal with it. Groaning he shook their hands off, not even trying to pinpoint the little yipping that was circling him. _"Have to get you-"_ A small groan of pain as he pulls himself to his feet _"-Have to get you lot out."_

The vagrant staggered across the room, the liquid critter oozing along ahead of him. His large fists pounding at the door until a still slightly distorted voice told him to stop. _"Go fuck yourself"_ He slammed harder. _"I'm sick of you fucking pissants"_ Annwn held the other people in the room back from the door as the ex teacher continued. _"I'm sick of your self righteous fucking attitude"_ slamming more. _"I'm sick of your stupid fucking outfits. HEY! HEY! They look like you were painted on by a retarded fucking Smeargle"_ Hammering the door even while he could hear a key sliding into the lock on the other side. _"I don't think even a child would put a doll in those things, they're fucking horrendous"_ The door opened inward. Before he could even see what was on the other side, Ryan's fist launched out, seizing the man's throat and pulling him into the door. The vagrant's other hand grabbed the gun as he spun the dizzy man around to press his back against the vagrant's chest with the gun against his temple. _"You lot"_ He called, kicking the door open properly, _"Get out, I'll keep them busy"_. The most logical objection he heard was that he could barely see, which while true didn't mean anything to the large man.

It was chaos, utter chaos that Ryan couldn't fully track. Anyone who shot at the people who fled, either jumped back when one of Ryan's stray bullets hit near their feet, or felt their skin melt to the handle of the weapon. Despite it all, Ryan held tight to his dizzy meatshield, squeezing just enough to keep the man silent but not enough to kill him. While the hostages fled out the front door, Ryan instead crossed the iron-grate walkway in the middle of the factory, Annwn, Fyr and the Slugma keeping behind him, wounding but not killing any threat they saw. Upon the other side was a door with large, concise text reading only "Control room". Shooting the lock, the large man kicked the door in and tossed his shield aside. In the room stood only one man, in the gaudiest, ugliest red suit ever.

The man held up a finger _"mhmm, yeah, hot. Yea, no he's here."_ He smiled as he hung up the phone, leaning against one of the desks with his fingers sitting atop the 'enter' key of the keyboard. _"You're Cabberin right?"_ He smiled _"You can lower the gun, I'm not going to attack you"_. Fyr was at his feet, growling in the direction of the other man, nose twitching suspiciously. _"Boss says to get rid of you. Won't be hard."_ He smiled, tapping the key before standing up. _"They never really call it that, but if you know what you're doing, every place like this has a self destruct."_ the man strolled toward the vagrant. _"I've got three seconds, you?"_

Everything froze. Ryan could feel himself mid breath as some creature stepped out of him. The large, lanky yellow creature examined the computer in the time between times. It's voice was hollow and echoed as it spoke. _"No time left then. Thank you Mr. Cabberin for the feast"_ The creature, a star shaped head on a golden body, looked from the door to the window. _"I've learnt a lot feeding on your past Mr. Cabberin. But I suppose all good things must come to an end"_ It's long fingers stroked the slugma's head. _"Sadly I'm not as powerful as I could be, I only have three seconds afterall. So you'll have to choose. Who should I save?"_ It stood before him, staring straight into the vagrant's eyes. _"You, or your pokemon?"_ It was no question. There was only one answer. And the moment Ryan thought it, time resumed. A rumbling sound echoed behind him, not giving either man enough time to look before the heat and force of just the leading edge, launched them across the room. As he smashed through the window, Ryan could see the flames wrap around and avoid Annwn, Fyr and the Slugma, seeking and engulfing the golden creature that had come from no-where into the room.


	25. Battle Barracks 2: Join a Gang

The prisoner groaned, wincing slightly as the doctor leaning over him plucked another small clump of sharp needles from his side. After each tug the doctor would wait for the prisoner's breathing to return to normal before trying again. Each pull of these long wooden shafts yanked at his skin and sent shudders through his already cracked ribs. The four legged black banded lizard whined at each pained sound coming from on the bed. The patient wasn't even allowed to move his arm down to comfort the creature. Any movement of his left arm was excruciatingly painful, the bone fragments in his upper arm sliding as the muscles twitched. The fractured and shattered bones felt fine in contrast to the huge prickles the doctor was slowly working from his flesh. Each spine was as long as his finger, and usually came in groups of eight or nine clumped in one spot. About a third of each sharp needle was buried in him, making the process of extracting long, slow and painful.

The doctor stepped away, sitting down at his desk beside the small table and looking the man over once more. They had agreed that the spines on the arm and back should be removed first, the long strip of eighty or so spikes extending from the prisoners chest would wait a moment. Agreed likely wasn't the best term for it though. The man could hardly breathe for the pain when he was brought in. With his patient finally a little calmer while they rested, the doctor inquired as to how he was beaten so badly. _"I was just minding my own business with Bruce here."_ The man swung his legs over the side of the examination table, patting the sandile's head with his foot gently. _"These three guys came over and asked if I was in a gang."_ He scoffed, the man had heard of prison gangs in other countries, the Battle Barracks had to be worse. _"I told them no, and that I wasn't looking to be"_ The gang leader hadn't been happy, almost attempting to stare him into submission looking back on it. _"The guy said I had to be in a gang, or I'd be my own gang"_ The doctor nodded, that was usually how it went.

When the prisoner refused their demand to join a gang again, the leader snatched him from where he stood and threw him at a nearby wall. _"As soon as I hit the brick, he was there. Hand around my throat he lifted me off the ground. Why are there never guards around?"_ The gang leader then began brutally beating at the new prisoner's chest. He couldn't yell for a guard, he could hardly breathe with the hand around his neck. After the man had had enough of him, the prisoner was dropped to the floor and spat on. _"'You join a gang, or you learn to like that. We don't want you now' At least I think that's what he said"_ the prisoner shook his head, weakly laying back down on the examination table at the doctor's nod. _"So yea, I got beaten up, and then they left"_ his good arm shrugged, his head turning to look at the man now examining the protruding spines.

The doctor sighed and wriggled a spike before asking where they had come from. You don't just grow painful spikes on the walk to get your ribs looked at. The patient laughed shortly, stopping as the pain kicked him sharply. After breathing through the pain a moment he responded. _"You really have to know everything don't you?"_ his head slumped back against the pathetic excuse for a pillow. _"After he dropped me, the guy turned away and shouted something about Cacturne and attacking the Sandile"_ Bruce's head perked up at the word, knowing it to mean him. _"I think he said something about 'light practice'"_ the doctor nodded, it was common practice for the prisoners to have their pokemon beat on new ones to get some exercise. The patient chuckled again, evidently not having learned his lesson last time. _"Well I wouldn't stand for it. That's cruelty. I couldn't let them hurt Bruce, he's so young"_ the little lizard was evidently attempting to find some manner up onto the bed. _"I mean, it's only been four days, but I've grown attached to the little guy."_

The doctor's next question had the patient baffled for a moment, could he describe the cacturne? _"It's a Cacturne, it looks like every other Cact-ow!"_ Scowling, the doctor plucked a spike completely from him. Just answer the question. _"Fine, fine. It was taller than me. I'd say about six foot."_ his face became quite drawn as he recounted. _"Have you ever seen a mummy without those wraps?"_ the doctor nodded quietly, checking the placement of each spine. _"That tough leathery looking skin that feels like sandpaper but not? Imagine that wrapped around trunks of trees stacked like a person"_ The struggling 'dile was finally able, through use of a step and a chair, to place itself alongside the patient. _"But the skin was this strange shade of green, kind of like a cactus I suppose, with these big hard studs all over it. I bet there are a whole slew of bikers who wish they had those."_ The man laying on the table became fixated on one spot above him. _"and it's eyes. They were like dolls eyes, cold and lifeless, unmoving but seeing everything around them."_ He snapped back to reality, shaking the image from his mind for the moment at least. _"Well I grabbed it and pulled it away from Bruce here. There weren't any of these spines on it though."_ As soon as he had turned it, the nightmarish thing had slammed its fist into his chest. Of course the prisoner punched back, grabbing the thing and hurtling it as hard as he could away. As it struck the brick wall, these needle-spine things burst from it's skin. They were still attached to the creature, but now if he touched it they would stick into him. _"It lunged at me, I lifted my arm to protect my face and it's log-like arm simply swung down on it. I tried to get Bruce, which I now know was a bad_ _idea."_ The Cacturne's large foot slammed square into his back, throwing the prisoner to his hands and knees. _"Then it kicked me, full swing and everything. Felt like a train slamming into my chest and launching me up."_ he gestured to the row of spines across his chest. _"Needless to say, it figured I was beat. So they left."_

Fishing a snack from his pocket, the patient quietly handed it to the small reptilian beside him. _"Not the nicest time to say this"_ the doctor began. _"But you probably should join a gang."_ the prisoner laying before him looked over, confused. _"There are a lot of fighters in the barracks. If you're on your own, you become a very easy target."_ He examined an image on his phone for a minute, looking from the screen to the patients chest. _"If you at least have someone on your side, you won't be alone if a group decides to jump you."_ The patient's hand scratched the head of the Sandile beside him, responding that he won't be alone anyway. _"A pokemon is all well and good. But if there are five or six gang members and their pokemon?"_ The doctor nodded to himself as he reached over and slowly pulled a spike from the patient's chest. _"I can understand your reluctance, but it is definitely safer."_ It took the doctor a further hour of slowly plucking the prickles from his patient's chest before he began wrapping a cast around the man's chest and arm. _"I think that's it Mr. Vite. Please take my advice."_


	26. Battle Barracks 3: Master General

At this point he'd almost lost track of the years. Days were quickly weeks, weeks became months. and the months at some point here wasn't sure when; passed by the decade mark. His first sentence had been scarcely a few months, but in time that had grown. Nourdons is what they call him now, the other prisoners, a shortening of "We lose". His presence is so respected, he need only tell a person to back away, and they might even request themselves be confined to solitary. Master General Vite, One of the Battle Barracks council of 6, used only four pokemon; Krokorok, Tentacruel, Rhydon and a Delphox.

The Battle Barracks that acts as home to the great Master General Vite kept only three gangs within its walls. Vite held no allegiance to any of them, they were small and petty in his eyes. Squabbling children that bickered among themselves always vying for daddy's attention. From time to time some would challenge him, never alone though. These petty children could never defeat him, not even if all tried at once. Most would try in fours or fives, bringing their poles and knives. The only scars on his body were tally's, a mark for each pokemon he'd killed.

He barely spends time at the prison anymore, Sleeping and eating at the barracks. Once people stopped challenging Master General Vite at the barracks, he took challenges at the Battle Chateau, gaining some notoriety of his own even there. Among his many battles, Vite had killed more than a few prisoners. His sentence had been extended many times, but at this point the Kalos courts finally decided it might be better to put this man to his death. The Master General holds that they simply fear his power.

 _"I know our time is running out Mr. Vite"_ The warden wouldn't even look at the man. _"But I have some news just come in that you'd find very interesting"_ The warden had been at the prison less time than the great Master General, he was obviously trying not to be intimidated by the older man. _"We have a prisoner coming to visit. He was convicted of murder, with at least eighty witnesses"_ Vite shrugged, not impressed. _"He's been in prison for only a couple months and has already challenged the other generals."_ This got the man's attention.

 _"And he wants to fight me? He's not going to win"_ Vite scoffed. Anyone who wishes to be considered a 'Battle Barracks General' must defeat all the existing Generals. An impossibility given that Vite hadn't lost a battle in the past twelve years. _"Why do you think I care?"_

 _"He's your son"_ , the warden's smile was of obvious spite. The word seemed to ring in the self-assured man's ears, choking in his throat. _"From what I know, you thought he'd been aborted"_ Vite shook his head, that bitch wouldn't have borne his child, let alone raise it. _"His name is Ryan Cabberin, he doesn't know who you are though."_ CABBERIN! His fucking mother had raised his son, the boy probably hadn't even heard the name 'Vite' his whole life. That cow herself was the one who'd told him the child was aborted, she was the one who broke contact, and now he had the chance to fulfill that promise she'd made.


	27. Chapter 24: Familicide

As he smashed through the window, Ryan could see the flames wrap around and avoid Annwn, Fyr and the Slugma, seeking and engulfing the golden creature that had come from no-where into the room. As he fell, the large man closed his eyes, accepting his fate. The fall didn't hurt, it was only wind rushing past him. It was the stop, the feeling of his back against the hard ground, the bullet digging in deeper as it maintained the momentum. It was the hard, flat edge of the rock his skull smashed against, that hurt. He didn't move much, he couldn't move much. The vagrants first instinct was simple, look at his legs. His heavy shoes and loose pants hid any sign of skin, so the large man had to move each leg considerably to see any effect. The pain was immense, almost blindingly so, but he had to do it. His legs could move, his arms could move, Spinal damage was unlikely. The large man could easily feel the shards of bone in his shoulder moving as he lightly felt his ribs, close to passing out. Ryan couldn't roll over, he couldn't tell if it was a river nearby, or simply blood rushing past his ear.

It was a quite bus ride. Beside the driver was a hideous clown thing, it's long fingers ended in freakist pads. In the rows behind the only prisoner sat his pokemon companions, quiet and enjoying the sights and smells out of the bus windowsas it rumbled along the long country roads. For much of the trip, Ryan's head hung down, looking at the handcuffs clamped upon him. They were slightly tight even at the largest setting, but he didn't mind. The prisoner understood why he was held as he was. Despite it all, he was proud of himself, with all the chances he'd had climbing the ladder these past few days, Ryan did not let a single pokemon die. He didn't kill anyone. And swore to himself that he would never again. But he had to make amends, that was the purpose of prison; to punish those who deserve it, and to give a chance to those who need to make up for their shortcomings. His hands moved together to gently caress the egg sitting beside him. The first egg laid in a battle barracks, given to him by the last general he challenged. Ahead he could see the two complexes, on either side of the road. The patchwork nature of the bigger one was indicative of a battle barracks. But it didn't matter right now, as the bus pulled to a halt, three guards climbed aboard to escort him off. Despite his size, the prisoner posed them no threat, he didn't even really want to talk to the warden. In that barracks was the last General, his last opponent before he claimed their title.

He could hear someone behind him. Someone standing over his broken form. In his blurry vision the vagrant could see the glint of metal and ice on the person, as another shorter and darker figure sidled beside them. The dark person knelt by him, gently scooping Ryan up on large boards while the other pressed ryan's own bottle of whiskey to his lips. The alcohol rushing down his throat did help the pain slightly. His vision cleared a little but he could still barely move. The large man could feel his head being cleaned by some painful, searing liquid, causing him to reflexively strike out at these two figures, unsure of who they could be. The taller one's hand clapped around the vagrants mouth and nose as this painful, almost acidic feeling liquid washed over his face. It was hard to see, but some small creature, no bigger than Fyre was sitting beside his head, apparently investigating the weak man despite his physical protests. It looked toward the large blurred figure, which removed its hand from Ryan. When the large figure leant in, Ryan could only make out that its head was bandaged and its eyes had this almost glowing brightness.

The other man was taller than him, his grin showed almost black teeth. _"I can see you got a little of me. Good, probably the only part of you worth anything kid."_ Ryan's eyes narrowed a moment. _"Ah, Ryan Cabberin, Son of a cunt mother and a father you never knew."_ the younger prisoner shook his head a little. _"Don't make me re-enact the corniest movie scene ever. You know who I am, and as soon as you accept that we can move to me destroying you so badly that I'll break every heart on your mothers side."_ Shaking the discussion from his mind, Ryan focused on what he wanted. He was hear to win a fight, he was here as the last step to becoming a Battle Barracks General. _"Sorry kiddo, See that Delphox? She can see the future, and she's seen that I never lose a battle."_ His grin was the most disturbing thing the younger prisoner had ever seen. _"I really look forward to killing you, I have something I want to try on a human subject. You'll make a good first victim."_ Ryans snarl was more competitive than aggitated.

Ryan was use to men like this, big men, stupid men, men who believe themselves unbeatable. Pride is mans greatest weakness, attacking someones pride is the fastest way to beat them. And the young prisoner knew this. As they exited the entry hall and passed into the large courtyard, Ryan was already noting the terrain. All the rocks and trees, the positions of walls and their strengths. The stormclouds overhead wouldn't be a problem- _"You're on my turf kid, no matter how much you think you know about this place, I know more"_ This was common, talking up your own position was a typical intimidation tactic, Ryan ignored the other man. _"Look forward to killing you boy, Only thing better is to see the look in your eyes when you realise just how far you really were from winning"_ The battle hadn't even started and already he wanted to punch the man, who he continued to refuse to think of as his father. The more he spoke the more Ryan had to laugh. This man was an unedjucated moron, and this would be easy.

The two sides stood across from each other. On Ryan's side, behind him stood a Delphox, A butterfree, A gigalith and a Darmitan. With the exception of the Butterfree, they were a collection of fairly large creatures. Across the courtyard stood A Krokorok, Rhydon and another Delphox, and General Vite standing on a large blue dome in the middle of the fountain. It seemed to happen all at once; All three of Vite's pokemon charged immediately at Ryan's Gigalith, a large 4 legged creature that looks somewhat like a geode and a stalagmite. Ryan ordered his pokemon to battle, making mental note of the crowd gathering at every window and door, watching from a distance as these powerful creatures beat hard on each other.

The gigalith crumbled quickly under the sheer power, his large-winged insect, who so often put his opponents to sleep, was down even faster. He couldn't look, he couldn't watch as the creatures tore his companions apart. He could almost hear the cringing in the darkness around him, could feel the burning the light rain was causing to his two remaining compatriots. It wasn't a total loss, Ryan had seen some of the powder of his butterfree's wings get caught in the Krookodile's throat, bringing it down at the same time. _"Focus on his Delphox!"_ He shouted, following with several cards; Ace Diamonds, Three Spades, King Clubs. Attack commands he'd trained them on, he'd been lucky with the pokemon he'd been assigned, they were smarter than average for their breeds, and with him fighting by their side they'd grown quickly. Despite this, they were being overpowered quickly.

Having had enough with standing idly by, Ryan charged in, Leaping at the other man's red wizard; grabbing it by the throat and pulling it to the ground. Squeeze, Squeeze, ignore the burns, Squeeze. The creature was burning his hands and his back, desperately trying to loosen his grip. Just hold on, let go once it goes limp, just hold on, let go once it goes limp. It was hard, he had to tune out his own Delphox, try not to see its face in the one at arms length but also not see it nearby. A growling blast broke his focus, and for a moment Ryan looked away. All he could see was the other man, standing in the same place on the other side of the courtyard, apparently bored by the scene. The muscles under him went limp, and the prisoner's hands immediately relinquished.

After a longer bout, a broken horn and shattered arm, the Rhydon finally knelt, giving Ryan victory over it. He grinned at the General and, before turning his back on him, gave him a two finger gesture long reserved for the defeated. From the corner of his eye he saw it, a large black tentacle whip from near his father. An additional two had reached out quickly and seized his only standing pokemon. As he raked at the thing wrapped around his neck, he heart the distinct snap of two necks, neither his own. _"Did I forget to mention? I have four."_ Ryan was suspended by the throat several meters off the ground in front of the man, the blue dome only now obvious for the jelly-like substance it was made of. _"That was pathetic boy, I don't know if I should be confused, or concerned for the other generals, that you could have beaten them on your way to me. You're nothing."_ He spat on Ryan's face, the tentacle moving the younger man a little away to prevent him reaching out to touch the General. _"Though I suppose now comes the fun part. I'm sure you know of a technique unique to aquatic pokemon, called 'soak'. It makes the target water type for a bit."_ His grin was only on the left side. _"We've perfected something similar but with poison. I've never used it on a human before, I'm interested to see the effect. Though I suspect that the acid in your blood and the poison in every cell will kill you pretty quickly._

He swung wildly, blinded and with something wrapped around his throat. _"Ryan!"_ Her voice was right beside him, a faint tongue licking his toes as the world seemed to come back into focus. _"What happened? Did you get shot again!"_ He groaned, this would take some explaining.


	28. Chapter 25: Brun-Lit Hotel

_"You did get shot again. Stop doing that!"_ He groaned, she was right, he had a habit of getting shot and it wasn't healthy. He apologized but sat up. Head spinning a little but he could focus well enough. Reaching up to the blood on his chest, the large man's right pointer and middle fingers tore into the hole. _"What the fuck are you doing!"_ with some difficulty, the vagrant grabbed the bullet; pulling it back out. _"You're fucking kidding me"_ He grinned, shivering at the sting of the air rushing into the wound. Motioning to Annwn, the large man stretched as he felt the muscles around the wound be psychically pulled together and seared together by the small stick of fire. Chuey grumbled, her green hair catching his eyes. With one arm he grabbed her collar, pulling her quickly to him to a moments kiss.

1,2,3,4,8,12... He stopped counting, getting off the ground properly. _"We should get going, they don't look friendly"_ Sitting in the surrounding trees were, from the vagrants estimation, at least 20, perhaps more, foot tall black birds. Crow in appearance, with large hooked beaks. They all seemed to be watching intently and the vagrant did not much feel like being carrion. It took him a moment to realize where he was. Halfway along Brun way, the road heading east from Laverre. _"I think the Brun-lit hotel's suppose to be nearby. Lets head there"_ He didn't stagger, he didn't feel dizzy, despite everything that had just happened to him, the large man felt fine. Chuey was beside him, both had apparently forgotten about the other man, who remained kneeling by the rock watching them leave. It was a beautiful area, even with constantly checking behind to see if those birds were following them. Ryan's attention was on the ground, the air, and the water, noting and following with his eyes every creature he could. So distracted he was that that the large man didn't really hear what it was Chuey was talking about, or at first feel her hand brush his again. It wasn't until they reached the bridge that he noticed Annwn to his left several paces, in no position to be the one holding his hand to the right. But the teacher felt no need in calling attention to this. Ahead was the _"Brun-lit hotel"_ , in all its cascaded and ruinous beauty. A once magnificent mansion, boasting 300 quite luxurious bedrooms, a large kitchen and library, now sat in ruin. The roof was collapsing and the majority of legible text was large font tags, or phrases too vulgar for Ryan to spend much time looking at. Before his time at the battle barracks, this place was beautiful. It was only at a couple feet from the door that Ryan noticed the people; pale and thin, ribs showing and teeth falling out as they tried desperately to paw at him.

Chuey seemed confused as she looked among the gaunt and haunted people, unsure what was wrong with them, why they looked so destroyed. Drugs he suspected, At this point it seems this is where drug addicts come to die. As much as he would have loved to help them, it was past nightfall, and there were creatures on Brun way that even he wouldn't challenge in the dead of night. _"Ayuadame"_ One of the men, little better off than those around him, grabbed weakly at Ryan's pants. _"Ayuadame. Sácame de aquí"_ The man pleaded. Ryan knelt down and patted the mans shoulder, apologizing that he did not know what he was saying and that he had no food to spare. _"Correr. No se una a nosotros."_ Ryan shook his head, apologizing again as he stepped away. he couldn't help this man. _"La luz hambres!"_ the man cried weakly after the vagrant, who gently guided his companions up the crumbling grand staircase and into a set of private rooms. Annwn, Embeee, Blargg and Leveyr had a room of their own. The fluffy red pup would not leave Ryan's side willingly, and was brought with into the adults private room. Once he was asleep by the wardroom, Ryan and Chuey were free to enjoy the night.

The large man was awoken only an hour after he fell asleep, and 5 hours after they'd gone to bed. Gently sliding himself out of her grasp, the vagrant sat on the side of the bed, looking over his shoulder to smile at her sleeping form. What would break other peoples bones would apparently give these two a pleasant rest. It was very late, a couple of holes in the roof, that he was certain were there before they went to bed, showed the moon at its peak above them. And under the door flickered a faint light. As he watched the flickering, the large man knew it to be moving away from the door slowly. Inching in silence through the halls. Gathering his clothes from about the room, and tucking his companion in better to avoid the cold air on her smooth skin, Ryan opened the door and looked out into the hallway. To his right the light moved around the banister, obscuring the source from his vision unless he were to approach. As was typical for him, the large man strolled down the hall and turned the corner, easily moving faster than the silent source of light. His eyes fell on an empty hall save for a single candle flickering in the middle of the floor. As he approached his bad began to ache, but no more than Chuey usually inflicted. Picking up the little candle he turned it around, watching as the wax seemed to melt down from its tip and solidify again at its base; always shrinking, always growing. A small face seemed to appear in the dripping wax, it smiled at him. The rare look of shock quickly dissipated from his face before he smiled back at it. _"Hello little one, are you lost?"_ Its flame turned green in response. _"Would you like to hang out with me for a little bit?"_ The flame stayed green.

 _"I'm so sorry"_ The voice was faint and youthful, talking sweetly in the floor below. Looking over the balcony, Ryan could see a familiar young lass. Shauna knelt beside some of the pained addicts, giving each a small hug. _"I'm so sorry this happened to you."_ The large man proceeded down, his heavy footfalls announcing his presence for him. _"Mr. Cabberin! I'm surprised to see you."_ He smiled, carrying his own personal light source as his back continued to throb, this is a dangerous place. _"I know, I needed somewhere to stay for the night and-"_ tears were welling in her eyes _"look at these poor people, I can't believe people don't help them. Get them out of here. Something."_ They did it to themselves, and this place is known for gangs, its not safe to even come out here, and she knew it. _"Mr. Cabberin? Why are you holding a litwick?"_ her volume was increasing. _"Put it down! Please!"_ The vagrant had heard of litwicks, but didn't know why she was so concerned. _"They eat your soul! Please Mr. Cabberin, I don't want you like these people! Please get rid of it! It will drain you soon."_ He raised an eyebrow, looking down at the little thing that smiled up at him. Its light flickered red for a moment and his back throbbed harder, but nothing else really happened. _"It- it should-"_ She collapsed onto the bench, confused and terrified.


	29. Chapter 26: A day in hell

_"It- it should-"_ She collapsed onto the bench, confused and terrified. She looked from the large man, to the little candle, and then to the near skeletonised man at her feet. _"They feed off your soul. Why are you okay?"_ She shook her head before pulling out a small booklet "Litwick shines a light that absorbs the life energy of people and Pokémon, which becomes the fuel that it burns." Ryan chuckled, patting the small candle creature that sat on the ground beside him. _"These people aren't addicts Mr. Cabberin, they're being killed, and they can't escape"_. His smile dripped away. He didn't know if moving these people would help them. Or if to try would only kill them faster. The pain in his back brought a thought to his mind however. Gently taking the candle he moved it behind him to near the tattoo hidden beneath his shirt. The tingling pain grew fierce until he drew the small candle away and smiled.

He smiled gently, placing the candle down before telling the young girl that he'd explain some other time why he was unaffected. For now he wanted to hear of her gym battles. _"Oh"_ Her expression eased at this aparently exciting change of topic. _"We have six badges. I don't have many pokemon though, Only the ones who want to come with me"_ Ryan nodded, a few loyal was better than many captured. _"Next gym is Anistar city. It's a psychic type gym, which I think I've got a good handle on"_ She smiled, stroking a red and white orb in her hands. He couldn't help but be a little proud of her, to have done so much on her own. Especially given the path her parents set her on.

 _"We can't do anything for them today, we'll have to talk to someone back in Lumiose about this place."_ He said, standing up once again, towering over her. _"For now you need to sleep. Come on, there are rooms upstairs"_ He patted the little candle before ascending the staircase again, the growingly frightened young lass following. _"I'll have Blargg watch you for the night if you like."_ Who was Blargg? Why would that help? _"It's a Slugma that's been following me, should work as a nightlight and be able to fight off any ghosts that might want to hurt you, alright?"_ She seemed a little calmer with this idea, entering the room beside where Chuey slept. A door left open for Ryan to direct the ball of molten rock through. With the fiery slug leaving his room, the vagrant climbed back into bed with Chuey, and slept again.

 ** _"You are the boss of the team, yes?"_**  
 ** _"..."_**  
 ** _"I need you're help, I can feel the end coming"_**

The next morning found Ryan sitting in the large entry hall feeding his companions as Chuey and Shauna trudged down the stairs. One sleepily, one curious. Behind the two slowly seeped a ball of magma that seemed to be more intent on watching the balcony behind it than the stairs in front. Though it did not fall down along their trip. Halfway through their breakfast, it was chuey who poked the large man through the large opening in his shirt. _"You got shot."_ She reminded him. His look was quite apathetic to the fact. _"I think you keep getting shot because you don't care. Don't you think?"_ Shauna nodded. Ryans eyes narrowed as he watched them, they hadn't been idly sleeping upstairs he deduced. _"And look at this, your coat is burnt. These are all your clothes aren't they."_ Ashamed, he mumbled as he ate the sandwhich. _"We can't have this. We have to get you some more clothes"_ His head sank a little between his shoulders. Shopping sucked. Clothes shopping sucked more. And he was broke.

The day that followed would be described by Ryan as hell. It was a little under an hours walk from the Hotel to Lumiose city, such was the arc they had travelled. Within the metropolis he was dragged through the streets by two excited women, and an immensely entertained psychic pokemon, who'se barriers prevented him fleeing certain notions. On a day where you had not expected a haircut, or even a beardcut, such a thing is not pleasant. The act of trying on various clothes over and over felt like he was stuck within an infinite loop. One for which he had no control. Even telling his escorts that he could not pay did not disuade them. For apparently Pokemon battles were a lucrative buisness, and gym leaders hand out large amounts of money.

 _"Girls, You haven't thought this through"_ He was finally able to say when they quietened a moment after leaving a store. Trying to ignore the fact that he actually rather liked the large black singlet with a Single red letter that he was wearing. _"My government storage box has been removed. I have no-where to keep all this stuff!"_ R for Ryan they said, corny but a little cool. Shauna piped up that she had already thought of this. That she had too many boxes anyway due to her status as a Pokemon League challenger. She was quite willing to let him store clothes in her account. So long as no guns or alcohol were included in this. _"Why would you do that?"_ Apparently being a favorite teacher had perks. But if he wanted to earn the offer, he could simply escort her to Anistar city. There is much snow upon the road to Anistar, so Ryan's associates would be helpful protection at least.


	30. Chapter 27: Scamper, Worms

With a smile, Shauna skipped out of the changing rooms. _"I had to umm, set up a child account"_ She looked a little sheepish. _"It was the only way I could get you your own box!"_ Ryan smiled, he didn't care how it worked, only that she was kind enough to do all of this for him. A fluffy old blind dog by his side, the large man shuffled into the changing room with a pile of clothes. The booth was small, no-one needed it to be large. A small computer screen and keypad were set into the wall beside a digitizer, a machine to convert material to data to store in the system. Something like this would have failsafes installed to prevent the digitalization of unpurchased materials. To prevent theft. The screen showed the account for one "Shauna" with a little heart instead of the second 'a', and allowed the user access to storage drive 13/13. The vagrant smiled, she had put his box at the end of her list to give herself more space. He didn't mind and was in fact somewhat impressed as he started to digitize individual articles of clothing into the system. Keeping only the black and red 'R' shirt, some thick jeans, and a trenchcoat.

Looking down, Ryan couldn't help but grin as Fyr sniffed the hem of his jeans. Stooping down he scooped the small ball of fluff up into his arms. The inevitable result was a tiny black nose sniffing around his newly shaven face, licking where his beard use to be. _"Like it?"_ He continued carrying the old dog as he reexited the changing rooms. _"Fyr seems to like it, so I guess it's okay."_ The vagrant couldn't help but smile as he carried Fyr with him out of the door. The rest of his pokemon associates followed quite happily, Annwn on his left, the little candle he'd thought he left at the hotel sitting on his shoulder. Embeee the large lion walking behind him with Leveyr cruising above them. Shauna seemed happy, asking for verification that Ryan would be coming with her. _"You done enough for me already this morning, of course I will."_ She seemed to perk up somehow beyond how happy she was, and skipped ahead back toward Brun Way, with the puddle of magma slithering behind her.

The road to Anistar passed through Dendemille Town, a village not far from Lumiose. Brun way, with it's rivers slicing the road into three segments, was quiet and with a cool breeze dispite the sun high in the sky. On the hill to the north stood the old Brun-lit hotel, easily silhouetted against the midday sky. With intent, Ryan looked away from the building. They had not approached the police, having been too swept up, and despite promising her he was not going to go back just for that. _"You'd think the authorities would already know"_ Chuey walked on his right, the left side of her mouth lifted in a thoughtful expression as her lips pursed. _"It is a beautiful building, it just shits me that it's been left to get like that"_ Ryan nodded, watching Shauna as his green-streaked companion continued. It was an hour walk after passing the hotel to Dendemille town, putting it late afternoon once they arrived. Dendemille Town was mostly a set of buildings arranged in a spiral leading up a small hill to a windmill sitting at the peak. Nothing particularly special, though it was a stop on the way to Anistar, and given the distance it was quite likely they would have to rest here the night.

'FROST CAVERN' read a large print sign on the northern exit from Dendemille. The road beyond was quite white and snowy. 'Tours held daily. Dim lights present for trainer activity at all times.' Useful, Shauna commented as she read it aloud. _"Looks like it'd be a nice place to play. Right?"_ She continued, holding up and speaking to a pokeball. _"Might even meet a new friend!"_ It was at this point that Ryan's brain finally caught up to his mouth and he asked why her pokemon were in their pokeballs. Her reply came as she started down the northern road, and he and the entourage followed. _"Oh, the woman at the pokemon center told me they got a virus. It doesn't hurt them but I didn't want to spread it to other pokemon so I'm keeping them in their balls unless to battle or sleep or have lunch or dinner"_ She smiled, skipping through the thin snow. As they approached the well used entry, several people came into view.

 _"Did you see those guys in red?"_  
 _"No, do you think it's them?"_  
 _"I've heard they've been causing problems in other places"_  
 _"I just hope they're alright"_  
Ryan knew something was wrong just from what the people were saying. Chuey looked over from admiring a small snake in a shrub to see each of Ryan's pokemon stop and form almost a wall behind him. As the large man took a step forward, an enormous roar echoed out of the cave mouth. Stalactites fell around the opening, smashing into shards about the gaping hole in the snowy rock. As soon as one person stuck their head in to look around the corner inside, they jumped back in fear. Out of the cave rushed a collection of small four legged half-ice, half-rock creatures. The looks on their face was pure terror as the six of them dashed away into the trees nearby. What was that noise? _"Abomasnow"_ One of the people standing nearby commented. _"A huge one, it makes it's home in there and usually protects all of these little pokemon from trainers. I guess it's got its hands full"_ The woman stepped back, pressing her back to the wall in case of any more floods of pokemon.

The tension was palpable as the large man's hand on one person's shoulder gently eased them out the way to allow him to move beyond. Leveyr, the large crimson bird, settled on a tree branch as the rest of the troupe entered the cave mouth, it's head tilted to the side. At the vagrants heels toddled a little fluffy old canine, guided to be behind him by gentle prodding from the man sized, man shaped fox behind it. Among the footsteps rang a little sloshing sound, which brought up the rear even behind the young girl. At the fore of the group walked a lioness with flames licking out the side of her mouth to light the shiny, icy walls for all to see ahead of her. While the next roar had not been unexpected, the shape of the tunnel echo'ed it thrice to the party. Rain fell on the floor around them, the frozen roof and walls melting gradually around the immense heat source. The passage weaved and forked often, though very easily navigated by only waiting at each parting for the inevitable roar to echo from one. At one point the teacher apologised to his student, that this was not fun, and she was not meeting new friends. But she seemed okay with it. She set out to make memories, and she wasn't in a hurry to forget this.

It was around the fifth, perhaps sixth corner, that the group found themselves at what might be described a dead end. Before them stood three very large white creature's. Their haunches were as high as the vagrants chest. Their white fur glistened with the ice around them, as did their claws. Their drool as they snarled would freeze in stalactites out of their mouth creating sharp tusks, or in one case a razor sharp beard. The three creatures roared at the group. Their roars being drowned quickly by that that was deeper within. The paws of just one of these things was as big as the large man's face, and their bodies looked to be beyond the word muscular. It took a moment after rounding on this sight for Ryan to notice the wall the creatures were backed up against as they began swiping at the group. The passage he needed continued past them to one side but they appeared unwilling to let them through. He spread his legs slightly to solidify his stance and, pointing at them, prepared to call a volley.

One can imagine then, the look on Ryan Cabberin's face when, before he could order his pre-emptive attack; Shauna dropped into the feotal position and began to cry. The crying was strange. He'd never heard a human girl cry like that, a wailing almost infant cry of fear. He could only stand there, staring from the ball of girl on the ground to Chuey. Chuey, to his great relief, looked just as baffled as he was, and interestingly to the vagrant; so did the large creatures. The five 'adults' simply looked amongst each other and to Shauna in a strange silence. Until one of the large creatures took a couple steps past Ryan's group to lower itself and tenatively sniff the crying girl. She continued to cry loud and frightened; a wailing cub, until the creature licked her cheek. At the feel of its cold tongue she quietened some but continued to show significant signs of fear. The creature that had checked her looked back to the other two, and as a group they walked away from the situation. It was a stunned silence only occasionally rocked by the echoes of roaring deeper within the cave. As suddenly as she had begun the wailing, Shauna stopped. Standing, she brushed herself off and wiped her cheek with an enormous grin. _"See, no-one got hurt Mr. Cabberin. They were just scared right?"_ He blinked for a bit before he understood exactly what she meant. They had come around the corner and backed these creatures between two possible aggressors. They were only lashing out because they felt cornered; threatened. So Shauna became a crying and frightened cub. She diffused the situation by making everyone stop to access both the situation and each other. Perhaps she'd learnt a lot more than she was letting on in this little journey.

The passage finally opened into a large chamber, the shape of an egg and the size of a volcanic caldera. A hole in the ceiling let light and snow drift in, and wind from outside whipping down could easily create a heavy internal storm who'se evidences have been left cut into the rock walls. In the center of the room was a creature bigger than any Ryan had seen of it's kind. An abomasnow; Something like the bears before crossed with a human being. Perpetually bipedal and at least four times as tall as the vagrant himself. Vine like tendrils form it's fingers and the long thorns or claws from them. The vines about it's body grip it's fur and and stem like veins across its skin from the neck to the creatures extremities. The creature's roar seemed most justified now, as Ryan was able to see no less than twenty horned black canines in a circle around it. Belches of fire kept it within it's ring as the people in ugly red suits attempted to restrain it with ropes that the creature's vines easily snapped each time they were laid upon it. _"HEY"_ The large man yelled to the group after the next roar, which came as the creature attempted to swat at one of the black dogs. The humans looked suddenly around at him. _"Back the fuck off from it!"_ He continued, though several laughed at him for it. Shauna whispered quietly behind him that fire isn't great against fire. _"True, but these are Houndoom. There is a fifty percent chance that any given Houndoom will be immune to fire. And-"_ He spoke a little louder, to ensure the people could hear him as he guided his group of the path to the exit.

 _"-Our group is immune to fire. Fifty percent verse one hundred. Do you think they'll take the chance?"_ Annwn nodded at Ryan's next thought, drawing his wand and holding it in front of him. _"LEAVE"_ he shouted again, only to be greeted by a wave of fire from all twenty canines. Though no fire touched them, shielded as they were by a massive shimmering wall of light centered on Annwn's stick. _"Gimme fire, There!"_ He yelled, pointing at one of the dogs as his own wave of heat shot at the single canine that could not avoid it and was knocked across the room by what amounted to a rocket blast. _"One failure! How many more will there be?"_ He yelled, grinning as another wave came at them. _"Shield"_ No sooner was the fire near them, than it was peeling away from the shimmering wall of light. _"Volley, there"_ He pointed to another random one, who while unharmed by the fire was launched hard into the rock and ice wall by the sheer force of the blast. _"Shall we keep going?"_ There were a few flashes of red light, and the more that were withdrawn, the more would be withdrawn. Until the people were the only ones left facing them, though quickly they fled back down the passage.


	31. Chapter 28: Rad to Anistar City

Ryan ushered Chuey, Shauna, and the pokemon out of the cave after the Team Flare goons. The large creature had begun swiping at them, not that Ryan blamed it, the poor guy was already very stressed. Back in Dendemille, Shauna began skipping to the Eastern gate, only for Ryan's hand to land on her shoulder. He pointed to the sky past the gate, the air was thick with snow. _"Probably best to avoid a blizzard. Even with a swarm of fire pokemon."_ She looked up, smile wavering. _"And it's almost night. Do you want to be stuck in a cold blizzard in the dead of night?"_ She shook her head and went back to looking around the town. Ryan however continued to watch the storm, looking north to the mountain at it's large ice sheets. _"Might be an avalanche too given that."_ He mumbled to himself. Annwn nodding beside him, looking in the same direction. _"You don't want to risk being caught in a blizzard during an avalanche either do you?"_ He mumbled, watching Annwn shake his head again.

Sitting down on a bench nearby, Ryan drew out a bottle of vodka he'd snuck out of Lumiose. Sharing the drink with each of the pokemon. Stroking the head of the large red bird that landed beside him, giving it a one-armed hug. The large man would be quite willing to sleep on the bench in the street, surrounded by warmth. However Chuey would not have it, grabbing him by the right forearm and dragging him with her through the street to a white building with a red roof. He knew it immediately; another pokemon center. Growling his objection, he was shushed and pushed inside, listening to the quite rational concern that any blizzard on Route 17, could visit itself upon the town in the dead of night. _"I'll be with you in a moment."_ The woman behind the main counter smiled at them before turning back to Shauna, who was showing her collection of badges. Under his own sullen grumpy mumbling, the vagrant heard the lass call them her parents, which immediately confused him. _"Oh, are you going to watch her last two gym battles. How sweet."_ The woman smiled at them. Confused, Ryan smiled back. _"I think we have a private room spare, so you can rest up before her battle tomorrow!"_ Shauna beamed at them as the woman lead the two upstairs. This little girl had gotten very manipulative. He was impressed

 ** _"What are you doing there?"  
"Helping you."  
"Isn't that yours?"_**

 ** _"Do I go inside?"  
"Yes"_**

Grumbling, Ryan crawled out of the bed as soon as he'd rested. Wanting out of the Hospital/boarding house as soon as possible. He sat silently outside on a bench, gently patting both Embeee and Fyre who both sought his lap. The small candle sat atop his head, he could feel his 'tattoo' sting but no further pain or weakness. Looking around, he noticed Annwn sitting on the other side of the bench holding something. Leaning back he tried to get a better look at it. The small black and bronze pokeball shone at him. _"It's okay Annwn. You can get back in any time you want."_ The fox looked at him, nods once but hands the ball back to him. With a smile he pocketed the ball in his trenchcoat once again. Keeping the fairly-heavy ball safe, close to him. With breakfast, and the petting, finished. Ryan walked to the Eastern gate to check on the outcomes of the night. Of course he was right. Half the exit was filled with snow and ice, two men stood there with shovels just looking at each other. _"Morning"_ He nodded to them, they nodded back before returning to looking at the snow wall. _"Looks like you've got some work in store for you"_ The one guy grimaced at the joke, almost mocking the vagrant's earnest smile. _"Well, I'll help you when my companions get here."_

Sitting beside the gate, Ryan waved the men back each time they took a step to start digging out the wall. Until Chuey entered the gatehouse, immediately sticking her head back out again to yell for Shauna. _"Looks like my time's up here guys. Blargg, Leveyr, Cranson; care to help these guys out?"_ The Slug, bird, and candle looked at him. The large man stepped over to the snow wall and, with one finger, drew a crooked 'V', with one side straight up, and the other at a 30 degree angle. Pointing to the vertical line, and then placing both hands in a 'pushing' pose on the whole snow wall. He then pointed to the angle'd line and said, very simply _"Gimme fire"_. Once he stepped out the the way, the bird was the first to comply, followed by the slug, and finally the candle once it had understood what the other two were doing. In truth, only Leveyr and Blargg were cutting the path, melting the ice in a sweeping motion of fire. The small candle's rather large blast of flame only filled the room with hot steam. The steam helping cut the path but also preventing water reaching the group. _"That'll do"_ and they stopped. One of the men wiped his eyes as the group of travellers walked past him up a compacted ice sheet, out onto the high snow sheet, now filling Route 17. Shauna exclaimed at the pure white state of the path. It looked almost like a white desert. When she'd seen tree's in the storm the night before, there were none now.

As they walked across the snow, Ryan smiled as life seemed to slowly bloom in the white desert. A large mount, that looked at first like a snow-dune, began to move. Slowly it stood and shook the white powder off itself. An enormous wooly, or maybe hairy, elephant. With large tusks and a long trunk. It stepped up onto the snow, out of where it had lay, much smaller version following from it's hole, their own coats untouched by the snow from the night before. Large hands dug themselves out of the snow nearby, another of the large 'abomasnow', not as big as the one in Frost Cavern, climbing out of the snow. It reached back down and lifted up smaller creatures that huggled by it's leg as another of the large creatures climbed out of the same hole. Chuey walked very close to the large man, head flicking around to watch every new addition to their desert. High above the white field, soared the great crimson bird, topped with a little white and purple candle.

Fyre however walked about on the soft snow, lifting his little paws high between each step. The old pup wandered slowly, lankily, sniffing wildly. The milky eyed canine barked occasionally, _"I'm here Fear"_ Ryan would answer, leading the old one to trudge over near him, rub against his leg, before returning to exploring ahead of him. After about an hour of slowly wandering around, fyre began bouncing happily in the snow. _"Having fun?"_ Ryan chuckled, watching the little guy licking snow curiously before sneezing and bouncing some more. Chuey even kneeling in the snow at one point to pat him, smiling wide as he sat in front of her, lifting his head into her hand as his old but fluffy tail gently swept across the snow. Ryan couldn't help but smile at her as she smiled so softly, so sweetly at the little thing. A crunch in the snow nearby made the droopy ears twitch, and Fyre stood as quickly as his little frame could, turning toward the sound. Though he could not see it, ahead was a tiny Abomasnow, little bigger than Fyre himself. It wandered closer and attempted to copy Chuey, gently rubbing the top of Fyre's head. The cold but gentle touch was met by a curious sniffing from the old pup, whom upon deciding the creature was harmless, barked happily and enjoyed the pats from two people.

After the small abomasnow toddled off, Fyre bounced a little after it, before laying down and rolling around in the snow. They weren't far from the town, so the group was happy to let him enjoy the snow for the first time. Little specks of snowy powder glistened in his red fur. At one point Ryan laughed, the old boy laying on his back, legs splayed in the air and tongue lolling happily out the side of his mouth for a 30 second break before excited rolling resumed. Slowly, the heat of the fire pokemon's body, and the friction or rolling melted the snow around it. The group watched as he formed his own little ice bowl in the snow. Pouting at the sight as he stood up and barked as he began sliding around. Every time Fyre tried stepping somewhere in his little bowl, he'd slide around, resulting in the poor thing growing frustrated very quickly and unleashing a blinding belch of flame at the opposite side to try and stop himself. Instead, all he did was create an icy half-pipe scooting along the snow, that he slipped into and began scooting down. After the very first bark of fear, Ryan scooped the little pokemon up into his arms. Fyre licked his face before barking grumpily at the snow again.


	32. Chapter 29: Cherish Them

A lot of new things had been added to Anistar since his last visit. The city that use to float on a pier, had now spread up the shore and up the hill a little bit. The great tourist attraction however still stood. The big glittering crystal wall raising out of the ocean, upon which the city was built, remained.

The sun's glare was intense, so much that the vagrant looked down and away from the sundial to save himself from blindness. He found himself looking down at the puddle of molten rock, who'se two eyes floated around, looking back up at him. A large collection of half-cooled magma sat on it, a ball that looked almost solid due to the black-ish brownsemi-solid magma. Kneeling down, he gently patted the ball, watching as the puddle moved so as to raise the hard part to his hand. The large man smiled down. _"Good to see you evolved"_ He patted a couple times before Leveyr landed beside them. A black and blue metallic looking object rolled off the birds back. It appeared to be an old victorian lamp, though it's two eyes blinked at Ryan and the flame inside curled and flickered happily. With a large grin he reached out to pat the top of it's head too. _"And you've evolved as well, congra-"_ At his touch, the creature's body began to shutter and distort, growing extra metal appendages and a more spherical head. He withdrew his hand in time to avoid being burnt by the sudden blue flame that erupted from the top of the creature's head. Chuey marvelling beside him at the rapid change from Candle, to Lantern, to Chandelier. The large man however couldn't marvel, he could barely think for the extraordinary pain in his 'tattoo'. A pain and heat so heavy and real, it felt as if a ball of fire the size of a motorbike was resting on his back. Even Chuey stepped away from the heat, exclaiming confusing at the strange rippling of light at Ryan's back, as if he were a hot road, bending the light above it.

As the group wound through the maze of piers, the young lass broke away from the group to dash off to a large ornate victorian building that the large man assumed was the gym. Ryan and Chuey instead continued to the large crystalline wall. The woman beside him sighed as they sat down at a table outside the cafe near the wall, obviously meant to capitalize on its fame. _"I need to find a place to live. I can't live on the street."_ Ryan lowered himself into the seat opposite her, not wanting to interrupt out of fear of being blamed. _"It's you're fault you know, you gotta help me find somewhere to live since you got me kicked out"_ she grinned, spinning a pokeball in her hand as she kicked him under the table. Annwn sat at a third chair, behaving as if he were a people's too. The long lioness trotted over, licked Chuey's hand before curling up at her feet. It was clear the woman was stifling the naw. Ryan grimaced through the pain as the chandelier pokemon landed upon the parasol. Though after a while the pain subsided as the chandelier calmed down. Fyre barked excitedly, sitting on Ryan's lap with his front paws on the table.

After lunch, and patting the little pokemon that enjoyed spending it's time wrapped around her wrist, Chuey leant down under the table to pull a rather large bottle from her bag. Seeing this bottle, which he immediately recognised as whiskey, perked the vagrant up considerably. He was happy to sit 'patiently' as she poured three glasses, for herself, Ryan, and Annwn. While Annwn could hold the glass in much the same manner as the human on either side of him, he had to poke his tongue out like any other dog in order to lap from the glass he'd been given. The pokemon wasn't particularly fond of it, sharing it with each of the others. Ryan had to laugh when the the waiter returned, not at the waiter's walk but the look on his face at the slobber covered, scratched third glass. It was a pleasant day, all things considered, as he watched Fyre propping his front end up by grabbing the edge of a metal bin, fastened to the ground, to sniff within it. Turning back to the table, he gently took the ball that was sitting in front of Annwn. _"Is there a problem bud?"_ He said, gently turning the heavy ball over in his hands. _"It looks fine. Should I run a diagnostic? None of the lights are blinking."_ The bronze and black ball had a sequence of L.E.D's within about 5mm of bulletproof glass wrapped in a band under the main bronze top segment. None were lit.

It was only after seeing Annwn shake his fluffy head that Ryan noticed the odd look on Chuey's face. _"What?"_ He asked, only to be asked what kind of pokeball he was holding. _"It's a cherish ball."_ Of course, the obvious question to follow, was indeed asked. _"Where to start?"_ He pondered, turning the ball over in his hands. _"Oh! I should preface with the drawbacks."_ He smiled unintentionally, one hand falling off the table to pat the fluff beside him absentmindedly. The teacher has been unleashed. _"First, this is as small as it gets"_ he held it up, a full size pokeball. _"Your pokeball can decrease it's size for portability. This one can't do that. It's too complicated to use collapsing technologies."_ He smiled, turning it over and passing it to her. _"Second, It costs about as much as a masterball to make it. You know about masterballs right? 'the pokeball that will catch any pokemon'? Yeah, About the same production cost!"_ her eyebrows bounced at that, obviously at least slightly impressed. But he didn't notice. _"And, it doesn't catch pokemon. A pokemon has to willingly enter the pokeball for it to be contained. It's kind of a side effect of one of the benefits."_ He grinned, taking it back. _"So! What's so special about it?"_ She didn't ask. He didn't need her to. He held it up, pointing to the button where most pokeballs had one hole. It did have the same one hole, but there were ten more in the ring surrounding the 'button'. _"See these? That one in the middle is like the one in any of your pokeballs. It materializes or dematerializes the pokemon back into the ball. But it's not just one, inside there is a tiny mirror that refracts the datastream into ten other dematerializers, or the stream from ten other materializers. It makes sure that even if one of them breaks, the ball can compensate and move the data to any of the other working ones until repairs can be made. And these other holes are in case the center mirror breaks, they perform the exact same role but for a specific materializer."_ he pointed to each hole and the motioned in the air as if turning a tiny screw as he spoke about the mirror distributing a datastream. _"This also means that if you want it to materialize or dematerialize faster, multiple can act at once. Each one applying or taking a seperate part of the datastream!"_ The waiter was standing about 4 meters away, just staring in rapt attention. _"Its shell is three times as thick as any regular pokeball."_ the large man suddenly bashed the ball on the table as if unafraid of breaking it.

 _"and it doesn't have a hinge for easy opening, which most pokeballs do as a side effect of having to maintain the internal compression system. But because it doesn't have a hinge, and doesn't open, it can't snap in half! In fact. This thing is touted to be nigh indestructable. I, for one, know that this particular ball has been wedged between a frieghter and the dock wall down in aquacorde town with absolutely no damage."_ He shuffled his chair around the table to beside her, to hold the ball up where both could see it easily. _"But inside is where it gets really interesting"_ he started pointing at it as if it was transparent and they could see through it. Beholden of a super power of imagination that his companion apparently lacked. _"There's over a hundred and fifty failsafe mechanisms inside, I think a hundred and fifty one but don't quote me. They make sure that absolutely nothing goes wrong with the storage of a pokemon."_ he shook his right hand dismissively as he asked not to be quoted on it while he held the ball in his left hand. _"Hell, there are even two backup data storage segments. I'm serious! There are currently two copies of Annwn in stasis in this ball."_ He pointed into the back and bottom of the ball, at something obscured by the very obvious shell. At last she spoke, asking what these backups do other than sit there taking up space. _"Well, they can be used to compare to Annwn whenever he's withdrawn into the ball!"_ he grinned. _"If any part of his datastream is larger or smaller than the reference copies, the ball will start to analyze the difference, and compare anything it finds to a database of known issues, and then repair the data."_ his finger flicked side to side as if pointing from her to some pile of things, obviously lost in it's own little animated world. What sort of things, she wondered, would be 'known issues'. _"Oh, data corruption, broken bones, poisoning, muscle atrophy, blood poisoning, virus's, heart failure, trauma. It's basically a pokemon center in a ball."_ he tossed it from one hand to the other. _"Yeah they are super rare! Only given to pokemon league champions and the very rare Battle Barracks Generals that actually get to leave. Most end up having to stay indefinitely or being put to death for things done while locked up."_

 _"Oh umm, I'm sorry about that"_ the large man suddenly blushed, having realised just how much he had rambled. Only to be told not to worry, she found his enthusiasm cute. Cute. _"Did you see Shauna? She's enthusiastic about this gym thing. I'm actually kind of impressed"_ He attempted, not at all subtly to change the topic. _"Most people drop out of the pokemon league after three gyms"_ He continued, to a mumble of agreement from the waiter wiping the nearby table. The two men nodded to each other as Ryan leant back in his chair. _"I never did the gym challenge. Did you?"_ She had not. From what the large man knew, only one in ten people didn't attempt the pokemon league challenge. He must have beat the odds to meet a woman, who like him, had not.

By the time the young lass caught up with her travel companions two hours later. The large vagrant was hanging upside down by his ankles off the pier, holding a fluffy and curious Fyre so the old dog could sniff a fish that was poking its head out of the low tide water. He of course was not hanging by sheer strength of his legs on the pier. But instead by a fairly bewildered looking waiter, who was obviously wondering what he'd done to get himself into the situation. She sat silently at a nearby table with a bemused looking woman with a green streak of hair. Both of which biting one lip to stifle laughing at the sight before them. _"Mr. Cabberin!"_ Shauna perked up when he finally surfaced with happy Fyre, the little dogs fluffy tail swishing happily. _"I did it! There was a half an hour wait, but I beat the gym in just under two hours!"_ Ryan smiled, sitting Fyre on a chair as he stretched his own legs. The little dog put his head on the table, sniffing the bronze and black pokeball sitting in front of him. _"It was hard! But I have seven badges. Which makes means I'm really close to being considered for the pokemon league tournament next year!"_ Ryan grinned, ordering another plate of food for the exhausted young lady. Which the waiter offered free of charge, for the achievement.

The group was laughing. Sitting with the young lady as she ate her meal and recounted with excited detail every moment of her 'ordeal'. A story that the two adults were happy to listen to despite the nagging thoughts at the back of their minds that it was a two hour event. As she started on the battle between herself and the gym leader, all the nearby screens blared to life. Lysandre, the pompous ass who'se phallic nose would haunt the dreams of any inadequate man, was staring at them from all angles. _"Pokémon Trainers. I come to you by all media to make an important announcement. Listen well. Team Flare will revive the ultimate weapon, eliminate everyone who isn't in our group, and return the world to a beautiful, natural state."_ Everyone stopped what they were doing. All focus had turned to one of Kalos' most renowned inventors making an announcement. _"Unproductive fools are consuming our future... If nothing changes, the world will become ugly and conflicts will raze the land from end to end. I repeat. We will use the ultimate weapon and wipe the slate clean."_ His face softened, almost pityingly for the final sentence. _"I'm sorry, those of you who are not members of Team Flare, but this is adieu to you all."_ Once the screens returned to normal; the girls and pokemon finally looked at the vagrant. He was still staring at the screen that now showed a weather report. His jaw so obviously clenched it was a wonder he didn't shatter his teeth in his mouth. His eyes simply stared at the box, furious.


	33. Chapter 30: Before

It was a Small classroom that he walked in. Placing his binder on the teacher's desk as he looked around. Each student desk was two wide, colourful blue frame with a white top. There were four columns of desks, in four rows. At most there would be thirty two students. Sitting down at the teacher's desk he flipped open the binder. The intimidatingly large man examined the official lesson plans as students silently filed in. He drew some odd glances but no-one said anything as they took their seats. Mr. Cabberin recognised about a third of the students. But he continued examining the lesson plan for the last class before the holiday. Four chairs were empty when he finally spoke. _"Is this everyone?"_ The teens looked around before a couple nodded. _"As I'm sure you've all noticed, I'm not Mr. Winberr."_ He smiled, remaining seated at the desk. _"I'll be filling in for him today, My name is Mr. Cabberin. Some of you may know me from your sciences classes."_ Several of the students nodded. Most of the others simply watched him. One had his head on the desk and eyes closed. The girl next to him went to shake the boy who was already clearly in a light sleep. _"Oh, let him sleep. This is the last class before the holidays and is officially a review lesson."_ He smiled, opening the top draw on his right to look through the papers. _"Mr. Winberr didn't leave me any notes on what he paid a lot of attention to. So I can only go off the official lesson plan."_ One of the girls raised her hand, and upon being nodded to, asked her question. _"Ah, Well he called in sick."_ The large man smiled. _"But I wouldn't blame him if he wanted an early start to the holidays. Would you?"_ some laughter, not much. With the large grin he closed the draw and opened the one beneath it. He faultered for a moment but kept his smile as he slowly looked up from the desk. _"Has Mr. Winberr ever teased or threatened any of you?"_ Some confused looks as the kids shook their heads and looked amongst themselves. _"Good. Don't know him myself is all."_ He smiled comfortingly as he slowly half-closed the draw, always keeping the pistol in his peripheral vision.

 _"So. Because today is review."_ He started, standing up beside the teacher's desk and towering over the students. _"You can either do some personal revision by examining your textbooks."_ He nodded to a couple students who had already taken the book out and opened to apparently random pages. _"Or you can ask me any questions you have. I'll try my best"_ He leaned on the desk, easily resting his upper legs against it. _"I can't guarentee I'll have all the answers, but I'm sure if I don't; some of you will be able to help me out."_ He beamed at them. History wasn't his thing. He preferred the subjects with definite answers, but he knew enough about the subject to help. Five hands went up, picking one at random he listened to the question. _"Right, So from what I remember, there's a lot of dispute about what exactly ended the great war."_ He looked at one student who had their book open but was paying him more attention than the pages. The boy nodded at him. _"Oh good, Let's see, it was either; a third army, an acid storm, an insanely powerful pokemon, a virus, or the king's great machine."_ A couple student's nodded. The one teen wanted a little more information on the machine. _"Ah! See, that I can help with. Who here knows about Devon Corp's new energy system 'Infinity energy'?"_ A couple nods but mostly blank stares. _"Right, well Infinity Energy is just another name for the power that pokemon use for evolution and their moves. An entity back then, only known as 'The king', built a giant machine designed to use large amount of Infinity Energy to influence life force of people and pokemon in the area."_ He was sitting on the desk already, most of the kids seemed to be keeping up. _"Some historians believe that this machine increased the power of Yveltal to draw away the life energy of all people and pokemon in the area. Killing thousands and ending the war."_ He nodded solemly at the rather appauled looks. _"We get most of this information from the King's journal itself. Which is why there is a lot of dispute about it's veracity."_

 _"According to 'the king', who's name isn't known which is why a lot of people don't trust his records, the great machine needed a tremendous amount of power to even start. That's not including the power needed to charge it for use. Just to turn it on used lots of energy."_ The teacher looked around the class, gauging if the class would be okay with the next part. Deciding it would be okay enough, he continued. _"So, as some reports around Cyllage and Geosenge actually do corroborate, the king slaughtered pokemon in the area now called Menhir trail. This released enough 'infinity energy' to start the machine."_ Yes, slaughtered. At least fifty pokemon. _"Some people think the Menhir stones are related to Mega stones. It's true they have similar energy readings. But it's still undecided which came first; Menhir or Mega."_ How was it used, why was it made? _"Well, the king claims he made it to amplify the powers of Xerneas, to bring back to life his favourite pokemon. Who left his company later anyway, The king claims it was angry at him for killing pokemon to bring it to life."_ Mr. Cabberin didn't blame it, he would hate to have that sort of thing on his conscience. _"After the pokemon left him, he grew angry and bitter. And began to blame the warring factions. In an attempt to punish them and himself. The king used the conflict itself to turn on the machine."_ So the notes claim. _"And he used it to amplify the power of the other powerful legendary of the time; Yveltal. To kill everyone in the war."_

 _"Xerneas? Is that part of your course?"_ He looked around after asked to go into more detail about the legendary beast. While some of the students with their books out shook their heads, the others didn't seem to care, and wanted to hear about the legendary pokemon. _"Well, Xerneas is thought by some people to be the origin of our current tree of life mythology."_ He smiled, picturing it in his mind to better describe it. _"Most drawings put it's back at about my lower chest. So quite tall."_ He measured the non existant creature against himself as he stood at the front of the class. _"Mostly dark blue fur, with seven long pale antlers on its head."_ He looked down at one girl sketching on a little pad. _"A more uniform spread and a bit flatter to start with, curving up about two thirds of the way."_ He watched her drawing. _"That's very good Ivonne, mind if I show the class?"_ It was a quick sketch, but was about as accurate to most murals as he could ask for in the span of a minute. She rathered he didn't so he left the page infront of her. He lifted his head as a student spoke. _"Yes, that's right. Xerneas is the basis of the seven branched tree symbol you see on maternity wards. It was said that when Xerneas went to sleep, it would transform into a magnificent tree that no-one who looks upon it would want to harm."_ Of course, this long into a class the kids usually got rowdy, though simply standing there with his hands behind his back quietened them quickly enough. _"Like most legendaries, when it was first discovered, people revered Xerneas as a deity. I know there are reports of couples who would pray to Xerneas for a baby, and even some who would plant trees as an offering."_ He looked around the class, stopping himself from launching into a discussion further about how this pokemon was considered a deity.

 _"Yveltal. Well of course that's next."_ The teacher rolled his eyes, sitting back down at the desk, intentionally not looking in the draw. Instead of starting a full description of Yveltal, he instead asked for any guesses. After a minute of the student's discussing he finally called for attention. _"Right, so Yveltal's name literally translates to 'God of death'"_ The opposite of Yveltal. _"People use to live in fear of it. One legend even says that should it die, it would steal the 'breath of life' from all that lived."_ Some murmurs, but Yveltal was obviously the more famous of the two. _"Where Xerneas was said to grant life. Yveltal took it away. Many people use to pray that Yveltal would leave their families alone when they were sick. And would even create charms and amulets in an attempt to ward him off."_ Humans always feared death. It was the reason to fear other things. Death was paramount, and the legends Mr. Cabberin went into about Yveltal, showed just how true this was. _"Of course, you can't say that all legends of Yveltal are bad. My personal favourite is that instead of taking everyone in one hit, it takes people every day. The old, those who are sick and dying anyway. I think many of you might agree with me that it's at least a little nicer to think that this beast, if it exists, is feeding on natural death. Than the idea that it kills to eat."_ He smiled weakly. It wasn't really the most comforting thought. But when it came to this creature, That was about as good as you were going to get. _"What does it look like? Well most drawings depicted it as simply a shadow passing over an area. A large shadow with a long body and two huge arms with three claws each. The colour and size is never really shown."_

 _"Menhir trail?"_ He shook his head slowly. _"We'd be getting into Geography or Pokemon Sciences. This is suppose to be your history class."_ The uproar was more than he expected. Apparently he was going to talk about Menhir trail if he wanted to or not. _"Well, it's your last lesson before the break. I suppose you can do revision yourself during your little holiday. So if you're sure, I'll talk about Menhir trail."_ A wave of nodding and 'yes's sealed him in. _"Okay, well all of you should probably have heard of it even if you don't know where it is. Menhir Trail is a path marking the south entrance to Geosenge Town."_ He should know, he smiled to himself. _"Lined with Sixty Four large vertical stones that look almost like pillars. They are roughly evenly spaced and arranged in a sixteen by four grid."_ 4-5 was the one he knew best. _"People use to think they were the graves of pokemon sacrificed to power the ultimate weapon. With the recent discovery of the energy they give off; this is becoming less and less likely."_ He nodded, encouraging a question from someone who'se hand was already high in the air. _"Yes, and Devon Corp researchers seem to believe that's why. Pokemon like Staryu, Growlithe and Eevee are common sights there because this energy may be able to make them evolve."_ He smiled, taking another question, this one considerably more personal though it may not seem it. _"Yeah, that is a tradition at Geosenge. Most people just have the number tattoo'd, though some fools go so far as to have large proper tattoo's made. What they do is chisel pieces off a stone, and grind it up into a fine powder that is then mixed with the ink for the tattoo. It's a very old tradition."_ Ivonne seemed to know, and of course asked the question that would follow for anyone who knew Mr. Cabberin's history. _"Yes I do. Yeah, I'm one of those fools who went for a full tattoo. Though legally I'm not allowed to show you."_ The class laughed. _"Yes, it does hurt. And at times it does allow me to simply touch and evolve some pokemon, but this is an incredibly rare side effect that most people who get one of these tattoo's don't experience. They just get the excrutiating pain."_ He grinned. _"So no, I don't recommend it."_

A loud bell rang for lunch. Most of the kids hadn't taken anything out, but those who did stowed their equipment. _"Well, we went way off topic, but I hope you all enjoyed."_ He smiled at each of them as they stood up, swinging their bags over their shoulders and filing out of the room. _"Have a good vacation"_ He waved back to a couple that waved at him. Turning back to the room away from the door, he saw the one boy still asleep at his desk. Rolling his eyes the large man stood up and walked over. 'sitting', though it'd more accurately be called leaning, on the adjacent desk, he gently shook the lad. _"Come on, class is over."_ The boy blinked, yawning as he sat up, apologising profusely. _"It's alright. Holidays start tomorrow. Just try not to fall asleep on anyone else until the last bell, alright?"_ The boy nodded, grabbing his bag and standing up to walk out. When the lad apologised again, the teacher only gave him a stern look that melted into a smile as he left. _"What was his name, should probably warn his teachers for the rest of the day."_ Mr. Cabberin mumbled to himself as he opened the binder and flicked to the seating arrangement page. 'Peter Salem.' was the listed name for the boy who'd fallen asleep. With the door closed, and the blinds shut, the stand-in walked around to the draw of the desk to properly investigate the gun. Pulling the magazine out he found it was loaded, though the safety had been on, he did not trust the thing. And found himself wondering why a teacher would have one in his desk. None of the kids at this school were dangerous. A little rowdy at times and kind of mean to each other but that's kids. A firm hand is all it takes to- his train of thought was interrupted by a series of loud claps and shouting from outside.

Shouting, crying, screaming, gunshots. Gunshots. Without thinking about what he was holding, the large man rushed out the door into the hallway. Two different sources of noise greeted him. The panic and screaming of kids running past him to the left, and more gunshots and shouting to the right. Turning right, Cabberin ran down the hall and out into the courtyard. The scene instantly changed the moment he threw the doors open. No-one ran out here. A small circular fountain sat in the middle of the courtyard with a collection of kids knealing in a circle around it. The large teacher could even see a couple of his colleagues knealing with the kids, each and every one of the painted with a look of absolute terror. Standing not three meters away from them was Mr. Winberr. _"Adam! Adam what the fuck is going on?"_ Cabberin shouted as he marched into the courtyard. _"I thought I heard-"_ And there it was, a small machine gun. He didn't know the differences between many kinds of guns, but he did know this was what people called a 'submachine gun'. _"What the fuck is wrong with you?"_

 _"Stay back Ryan. Another step and I fucking kill someone"_ Mr. Winberr, an old but obviously very pissed off man shouted back.

The large teacher raised the pistol in his own hands to point at the older man. _"This isn't right Adam. You're better than this."_ He held the gun in both hands, levelled at the older man. But though his head pointed to the threat, his eyes looked to the woman knealing with the students. A flick of his eyes and she nodded. He turned his attention back to the other man. _"Put it down Adam. Adam don't hurt them."_ Mr. Winberr focused all his attention on Ryan. And the moment he did, the woman stood. With a shout from her, all the children began to run away, and Ryan lost control of the situation. Adam Winberr spun at the hip, swinging the gun around wildly to point at someone, anyone. Then bang. Mr. Cabberin shot first. He saw the blood splash from Adam's neck. As a reflex, the other man's fingers clenched and sent a spray of bullets. 1, 2, 3, It was slow motion. Ryan could almost see the trajectory of each bullet. 4, 5, 6, People were still running. Winberr fell to the ground. 7, 8, 9 the gunshots stopped as the old man lay on the ground, writhing and coughing with the sound of a person drowning.

As the crowd thinned, he could see three people laying on the ground. Two students nearby to whom the large man charged immediately. He dropped to his knees, unable to reach both at once. The little girl, Ivonne, had been shot in her shoulder and her upper chest. Immediately his hands covered the holes. Placing pressure on the wounds as he looked over at Peter. Ryan could clearly see almost black blood coming from the boys belly. The boys arm, riddled with bullets as it was, was weakly swinging in the teacher's direction. Despite his shoes, Ryan could feel the fingers brushing against his feet. Biting his own teeth, the large man kept pressure on her wounds as he reached to try and get Peter as well. _"Come on"_ He growled to himself, forcing himself not to look at the other man, who was thrashing at the time, holding his own throat. Ryan could feel the tattoo on his back searing with pain the more he tried to help both children. _"FUCKING DO IT"_ He shouted at himself, pounding the ground with his foot as he reached with a leg to try and get the boy to him. He wasn't a doctor. All the medical knowledge he had was general anatomy and the basic education everyone got. But he wouldn't give up.

 _"What the fuck is wrong with you people"_ He yelled at the crowd that had encircled the courtyard. He couldn't see the shimmering of the light at his back. Couldn't feel the immense heat eminating from him. _"You!"_ He pointed to the woman he'd looked at earlier. _"Call an ambulance."_ She didn't move. His grip tightened on Ivonne as he shouted at her. _"Call a fucking ambulance you daft woman!"_ He screamed, she stumbled backward blinking in suprise before shaking herself to her senses and hurrying away. _"It's okay, I'm here, you're going to be okay."_ He whispered to the girl, unable to shake the look in her eyes from his own vision. No matter where he looked, the fear in her glassing eyes was always there. He moved from one to the other every couple minutes. Bandaging the holes as best he could, pressing them to stop the bleeding. Lifting their heads and chests, trying to get the blood flowing. But no-one approached to help him. The large man, couldn't see the fire on his back. He did not care. His eyes stung from boiling tears, and the blood on his hands was spread on his face as he kept trying to wipe away the sweat. When the police finally arrived, he was dragged away to let the paramedics attend to all three people. Two people. Person. He was held back as the sheets were drawn over all three corpses. Looking down, Ryan could see the blood on his hands. Shining, Glimmering, Accusing.


	34. Chapter 31: Return to Menhir Trail

The air was still on the Anistar pier. Near the cafe at one end, even the fish in the water didn't dare move. The young girl, Shauna, crossed her arms uneasily against her parker as her eyes drifted sideways to the woman beside her. Chuey also sat at the table beside her. While not easily intimidated, this woman was silent and apparently unwilling to move too much either, not even to move the streak of green hair out of her face. The most she moved was to lean down and lift up the old red and white ball of fluff that was sitting at her feet looking at the third person. It yipped quietly but licked her cheek and settled into her arms as the woman very slowly patted it. The only person outside the cafe who was left standing, struck an impressive silhouette. He felt to everyone who could see him, a full foot taller than the 6'2" he already stood at. The man simply stared at the nearest Television screen, his bottom jaw moving from side to side. While the grinding of his teeth was not audible to anyone, the very act of it seemed to set several people nearby on edge. Looking across the table, Chuey noticed something human-like, but not human, sitting with them. A fox-like creature that stands on it's hind legs, with enough fur to appear to be wearing a thick robe. It's hands sat on the table, holding a small bronze and black orb. It's head had sunk as it looked at the large man, hands obviously attempting to hide the orb from him. After about a minute, the large man finally spoke. _"I have to check."_ He didn't move, his head didn't turn and he didn't blink. It was simply words to start with. _"I have to call Grandfather. Even if only to know that he is well."_ It was clear the man wanted to move, but his body was too locked still to respond. _"If Flare is there, he needs to get out. Stubborn old man..."_ When his head did move, it almost snapped sideways. So sudden was it that the three who had watched him so transfixed, started slightly in their seats. The jolt resulted in the old ball of fluff licking Chuey's arm reassuringly. Or was it looking for reassurance?

 _"You."_ The large man's voice was calmer, but still instilled a slight fear in those who heard it. He was looking at the waiter who had served their table, and whom not minutes before was having fun helping fyre sniff a fish. The waiter seemed to cower slightly as he shook his head. With a slight excuse the waiter dashed inside to fetch a phone for this man. The Lioness over by the one table rolled onto her back submissively at Ryan's tone. With that exception, no-one moved until the Waiter came hurrying back out with a phone. It wasn't a snatch. If anything, the larger man's hand simply waited for the phone to be placed in it before lifting to dial. The first number was almost automatic. 10-58-21-99-73. The dialtone began. He stood there unmoving, staring out at the sea with the phone to his ear. Unbeknownst to the large man, at the other end of the line, the phone wasn't ringing out in an empty house. People moved around the room near the phone. One stopped to look at it and even considered picking it up. But his partner dissuaded him from doing so. Instead they continued their raiding of the home. Rearranging the furniture as they saw fit. Once the weapon was fired. This would be their home. Eventually the large man hung up, and instead dialed a different number. 10-58-56-35-14. _"Come on Abby, pick up. Pick up."_ He'd begun to sound slightly nervous. Granma always answered if Grandad couldn't. And the pokemon center was always manned by someone. Almost a minute stretched by with the large man staring out at sea with the phone held to his ear, before finally it was answered. He could hear the shushing of people as a sweet young voice carried down the line. He had called the Geosenge Pokemon Center she informed him. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the ultimate weapon was soon to be fired, the voice claimed, pokemon centers were now obsolete. His eyes widened as his brow furrowed angrily. The city of Geosenge was now property of Team Flare, and it's beautiful rustic views will forever be appreciated by the chosen few. Before the large man could even respond, the call ended. He was left staring out to sea, holding a silent phone to his ear, grinding his teeth together once again. His arm swung around and thrust the phone back into the hands of the waiter, before he turned back to face the group at the table. The rock underneath the table was the only sign of the pool of magma, that seems to have curled up on itself in concern.

Two little eyes popped out from under the shell, looking at the large man. Fyre sniffed in the man's direction, milky eyes apparently looking directly at him. Chuey could feel water beading down her forehead, and from the look of Shauna, it wasn't an isolated event. The air around the big man had begun to shimmer, like the air just above a baking asphalt road. A slight creaking could be heard from the pier-boards as he walked over to the table. Apparently he couldn't see what was going on around him. Shauna jumped off her seat and at least two full strides away from the table as steam started seeping up through the gaps in the boards beneath Ryan's feet. Chuey, still holding the fluffy Fyre, also stepped back as some of the steam began to burn her exposed skin. The large man seemed not to notice the waves of steam rolling up him, or the shimmering air around his frame. His face was naught but pure, unmistakenable rage. A couple people had run over to see what was going on. The newspaper one person was holding started turning slightly golden at the edges as the paper slowly curled in on itself. _"Annwn"_ He said, looking straight at the fox-like, human-like creature. _"I need to go home."_ His voice was strong and deliberate. A thin veil for the anger beneath. _"Take. Me. Home."_ The creature nodded, closing it's eyes. As it did, Ryan felt the air around him force itself against him. Desperately it tried to crush him, but the large man wouldn't let it. And once he blinked, the scene around him changed. He was standing on the beach of Cyllage City. Chuey and Shauna were several paces behind him, Chuey still holding Fyre tight to herself. Leveyr, the large crimson bird, circled overhead. While the others simply stood in a line between the large man and the two women. A wave washed in, the water passing where he stood for most of the beach, but disappearing as it neared a metre around him. Instead, he was surrounded by a thin mist of salty steam. His head turned northbound, looking in the direction of Geosenge Town. Looking to home. Though many of the stones of Menhir trail blocked his view of the buildings, one thing stood out to him. A great crystalline spire reaching skyward from the center of town. A beautiful pearlesent structure. His nose wrinkled up as his lips snarled and his brow furrowed. The large man let loose a heavy roar before charging northward.

This time, the large man didn't let his memories of walking the route guide him. His legs were not wandering along leisurely of their own accord. Each powerful stride was purposeful and driven. He could vaguely recognise the sounds of a group following him. But right now he had a one track mind. He easily jumped the low, broken walls as he sprinted northward. The enormous Menhir stones lining the route were arcing out at him. Bolts of energy connecting him to them as he ran past. Or was he arcing at them? He didn't think about it until finally his concious mind caught up with him. Standing in one position with the grass underfoot shrivelling and dying around him, brilliant flashes of light as energy arcs from his back to the stones around him, and from each stone to each other. He turned on his heels to look south, back at those who were following him. Only now did he see the people clinging to the stones or the walls behind him. Shrivelled and dying people and pokemon, drained of all that they are. Each time the floating gothic Chandelier drifted close enough to one of these dying creatures, the creatures would scream as if caught between two magnets ripping them apart. Chuey, Shauna, Embeee, Annwn, Blargg and Fyre all looked visually tired as they followed them. He took three strides back to them. Passing close to a weakened person he looked down. The sickly hand was pawing pathetically at his pants leg. The man, whom Ryan recognised as the Geosenge Cafe owner, looked up at him. The man's hair was dissolving as if being burnt away, and as he opened his mouth the strange energy arced out of him and into the large vagrant's leg. At the same time, another arc of the energy launched from Ryan, to the nearest large stone. He stepped backward. What if this happened from him being close to the others? Right now, he was far too angry to care. The only thing that might have made him worse, would be to have seen Shauna's face just after he turned away. She looked close to throwing up, and already appeared to not have slept for four days straight.

The gate to Geosenge had several people waiting at it. They seemed to be in generally better health than those south of them. Three Police officers stood between the small crowd and the town beyond. Shauna and Chuey passed him by. A look exchanged between Ryan and Chuey had her continue to lead his group of pokemon up to the gate to try and get through. The large man stayed on the road, standing between two large rocks, with wings of arcing energy spread out behind him like a glorious angel of light. _"We can't let you through."_ The youngest police woman said to the two new additions. _"We know you want to help but this is a task for the authorities."_ Ryan's lips pursed as he listened from a distance. _"All locals have been evacuated, don't worry."_ The large man relaxed visibly, his wings weakening to half-brightness. _"Please. We're only doing our job. You are welcome to wait around the gate, but we can't have you going back out there"_ The officer looked out past them at the large man, a bewildered look on her face at his appearance. Beyond the guards, Ryan could clearly make out three human-sized creatures. Golden in colour with large, star-shaped heads. The creatures wore brown armourments that looked increasingly familiar the more the large man stared at them. The creatures held a spoon in each hand, that they ran across a shimmering field of light in front of them. A barrier seperating the town of Geosenge, from the trainers on Menhir trail. Slowly, the arcing of energy from Ryan to the stones slowed to an end, allowing him to approach the gatehouse. Silently he took Fyre from Chuey, patting the ball of fluff as its little tongue flicked against his chin. A beak'd head nuzzled against the large man's cheek, strengthening his resolve a step further.

Cradling Fyre in his arms, the large man walked to the shimmering barrier, looking out past it into the town. Chaos. Utter and undefinable chaos was beyond. Hundreds of pokemon warred between themselves. All the people wearing police uniforms that he could see had their backs to him. They were all hiding behind walls or cars, directing their pokemon and taking shots with their pistols at the opposing force. _"How many officers are in there?"_ He asked aloud to no-one in particular. A male voice responded from behind him, there were fourteen police inside, and these three outside. He didn't turn around, his fingers were twitching as if the large man was counting. Almost a minute passed before he spoke again. _"Seventy Three. There are Seventy Three Flare cultists in there."_ More police were on their way of course, but was there time. It was as if he was watching the season finale of a television show for all he was able to help from where he was. _"Oh"_ He continued when a large black canine, as tall off the back as Embeee, rounded a car to face an officer who was reloading. _"Make that 13 officers"_ He sighed as the creature grabbed the man's throat in its mouth, shaking and biting down on him. The scream was easily audible even through the shimmering barrier. _"Looks like your side is outnumbered Officer."_ Despite his anger, Ryan kept his voice calm and informative. _"I'm guessing the twenty-seven Growlithe are yours"_ He watched the little red and orange dogs rushing around burning Flare members and their pokemon. _"Same with the Nine Herdier and Six Mienshao and Arcanine"_ He began simply reciting the numbers of each kind of pokemon he could see. _"You're against Fifty Mightyena at least. Fourty Five Golbat"_ He was counting quick as he could. Almost reciting a census of the battle. _"45 Liepard, 35 Houndoom, 35 Manectric, 30 Scraggy. I guess we're fucked aren't we? 30 Swalot, 25 Croagunk and Toxicroak, 15 Scrafty, 10 Elecktrike, 10 Gulpin, and 10 Houndour."_ He shook his head, watching the wave of darker pokemon crashing against the police pokemon.

It had precisely the effect the large man had intended. Every trainer who had resolved themselves to sitting outside the town to wait for the problem to be cleared, was on their feet and shouting at the three officers. One even threatened to attack the pokemon that were creating the barrier. They weren't going to sit there and just give up. _"Officer"_ The large man circled back around the police to stand with the trainers facing them. _"We can help. You all know that. And standing here, all you're doing is trapping your colleagues in there and not helping them."_ His face was white and serious. Even fyre, in his arms, had turned to bark repeatedly at the officers, scalding them for not helping. _"We're losing. Because you won't let us help."_ It was too dangerous they would say, public safety was the number one priority. _"And if you lose, keeping us from helping would be for naught!"_ A couple of the other trainers were shouting louder. One brought up that he had just gotten his seventh gym badge, he can hold his own in a battle. _"Right! Shauna!"_ He called over to her. _"You have seven badges too don't you?"_ She nodded fervently, showing the police all seven. The large man didn't want the pokemon making the shimmering field to be hurt, they could be of use in the battle. They refused. More and more exacerbated he became at their stubbornness, until finally; _"I'm a battle barracks General!"_ He yelled at them. _"I could snap those things necks with my bare hands and just let us through. I AM BEING NICE AND LETTING YOU CHOOSE TO STEP ASIDE"_ The air around him shimmered more again. And apparently, this was the final straw, as the wall went down almost instantly. With the path clear, the reinforcements spilled into the battle.


	35. Chapter 32: At Geosenge

Holding the old dog, the large man looked around the entrance of the town he'd just rushed into. _"I know you'll want to help"_ He whispered to fyre wrapped up in his arms. Spotting a tree, he headed for it. _"But I can't risk you getting hurt."_ A little tongue licked his chin as Ryan knelt behind the tree, gently resting the old dog on the roots. _"Now, No matter what you hear Fyr, stay."_ He spoke in the best authoritative voice he could muster at the thought of harm coming to the little dog. The large fluffy tail swished slowly a couple times at the command. _"Sit,"_ He continued, concerned. The fluffy bum plopping onto the dirt at the base of the tree. _"Stay"_ The milky eyes watched him as the old dog barked at Ryan, happy tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. Ryan couldn't help but smile. _"Good Boy"_ He patted the dogs head before looking over at another pokemon. _"You"_ He pointed to Blargg, the molten rock creature with a shell of semi-solid stone. _"Come here"_ Fyre sniffed his fingers as the other creature slithered over. _"You guard"_ Ryan patted the other's rocky shell. _"Make sure he doesn't get hurt."_ Fyre barked, prompting the large man to lower his nose so they touched. _"I love ya little buddy. You stay safe."_ He patted Fyre a little more before dashing off into the city, followed by his other companion pokemon. Back at the tree, the little dog sniffed his guard before barking and making this, his favourite tree, as his territory.

In the center of the city it stood. The peak towered 80 meters above the ground, and as he watched; Ryan could see streams of light seeming to swim through the material. This titanic object bore the shape of a Trillium, a three petaled flower with a formation protruding from the center. Each of it's three large petals was easily Ninty meters across, crushing one building that was unfortunately too close. It was sculpted from a thick crystalline substance, Hard and transluscent. The great structure cast no shadow despite its size, only the anatomy of light danced across the people beneath it. It would have been almost beautiful, if looking at it didn't fill ones mind with thoughts of death. Visions of the desiccating people on Menhir trail swam through the crystalline petals. He could hear their screams. The pleading of people and pokemon to be freed from the magnificent prison. The large man stood just out of the shade of the tree, colours dancing across his face, mesmerised by the movements inside the pearlescent petals. The song of death called to him, begging for the vagrant to approach. Touch it, Touch the wings of death lay spread upon the city of birth. A nip at his heel brought the man back to reality. A tall golden lioness had grapped his foot in her mouth as he had gone to step on a thick, gooey creature that spat up at him. Shaking his head and forcing himself to look down, Ryan focused on the task at hand.

Scanning the area, the large man noticed someone almost his own size, slumped against a car. The officer was holding his right arm with his left as he looked around nervously. Ryan could see the sheen of blood under the cop's large hand. Slumping down beside the man, the vagrant directed Embeee, the lioness, to keep watch, and Annwn to direct the attack. _"Get out"_ the man ordered Ryan _"This is a police matter."_ Technically it would be a military matter. The vagrant held the policeman's shoulder, carefully prying the hand away. The other man growled. _"Fucking thing bit me"_ what did, ryan asked. _"A Mightyena. One of those big black fuckers. Bulba, uh"_ The man flinched as Ryan wiped the blood to check the damage. _"Bulba, my growlithe, body slammed it and chased it off."_ Ryan wasn't listening as he ripped a section of the mans jeans off. Moving it up, he started wrapping the bite wound. _"Tourniquet?"_ The man asked, seeming genuinely curious. But all the same, the vagrant shuddered at the thought. It was just a bandage, a tourniquet would cut the blood circulation and could kill the poor arm. All he needed was to staunch the bleeding for now. He looked down at Embee, she held a small lick of flames in her mouth. _"It's not going to- is it?"_ It was unlikely he could handle that. Ryan could, but the officer probably wouldn't. At the command, the flames were quenched and the lioness moved to the front of the car to keep watch.

Ryan finished tying the fabric around the mans upper arm. Looking around, he could clearly see two large crimson birds taking turns swooping a large frog-like creature. _"This should staunch the bleeding for at least a little while. Once we win, you'll need to get-"_ A creaking sound was followed by a loud crash. Looking over, Ryan saw a titanic winged lizard, spouting fire from atop the ruins of what appeared to be the pokemon center. Another of these red winged giants was circling above the town. _"There are two Salamence here. How the fuck did that happen?"_ The vagrant's eyes furrowed. _"We gotta get you outta here mate."_ Moving around the officer, Ryan helped lift the man to standing as the other man held his arm. Around the back of the car though, the large men could now see a furry black back, crouched and crawling. Upon being spotted, the creature snarled and stood up. Blood was dripping from its teeth. Looking past the creature, Ryan could see a small mound of brown and orange fur. The mound had a white tail as fluffy as Fyre's, that was not moving. The muscles in the poor creatures throat were clearly visible as blood spurted out into a puddle just in front of it. The other man had only noticed the black one, so Ryan made sure to keep him from looking back. _"Aht, stay"_ The vagrant held up his hand as he looked at the creature. For a moment, it paused as if willing to comply. Though it shook its head soon after, reminding itself who master was. As a result, it leapt at them, apparently going back for its first victim. Startled, the other man fell back onto his ass as the black canine came for him. Instead of letting the scene play out, Ryan stepped in. As intended, the creature's teeth sunk into the ex-teacher's shoulder. It's claws raked his chest and its jaw snapped closed on him. The large man refused to move however, standing there as the creature's paws paddled against him, and it's teeth cut into him. He could feel blood spilling into the poor thing's mouth. The lioness had grabbed the things leg and was tugging desperately. _"Down Embeee."_ She let go, looking at him confused. _"Take him, over there."_ The large man pointed to the officer and then an area nearby where a group of other police officers had gathered inside a circle with Shauna at it's center. He didn't seem to be reacting to the heavy canine hanging off his shoulder.

The creature had stopped growling, passed whimpering and had progressed to merely panting painfully. Its lower body had begun to shudder, and despite what anyone would expect, the large man began petting the creature gentle, as if trying to comfort it. Stepping back to the car, he slowly sat down with this thing hanging off his shoulder. He watched the lioness, holding the officer by the collar, dragging the perfectly fine man to the protected area. The officer had pulled out his gun and was firing at something Ryan could not see. Turning his focus back to his shoulder, the large vagrant gently took the creature's jaw in his hand, prying its mouth off. The poor thing was shaking, foam was building in its mouth and Ryan could see vomit ebbing out the sides of its muzzle. _"Wasn't a wise idea."_ He said, gently laying it down beside him. The large man's hand ran through the creature's fur on it's head. _"You were a good boy, only doing what master told you to."_ Ryan was up onto his knees, gently patting the creature as its body shuddered violently before coming to a rest. Sighing, he stood and investigated the bitemark on his shoulder. The bites had been deep enough to draw blood. He was bleeding suprisingly heavy as he looked over at the chaotic combat. _"One here!"_ He shouted, All of his pokemon looked to him. By the time Leveyr had begun gliding over, the chandelier had already reached him. _"A light sheet of fire, here"_ He patted his shoulder, looking away and bracing himself. He felt the searing burn and smell the baking of flesh for a couple seconds before looking back to see his burnt shoulder. It hurt to move it, but at least he wouldn't bleed out. _"Back to battle!"_ The chandelier drifted away, apparently returning to a bout with a bone decorated canine. A weight landed on his back, long thin arms wrapped around the vagrant's chest. He couldn't see the creature, but the pads on it's four fingers on each hand that clung to his shirt told him it was a frog-like creature. At it's size, it was probably a purplish colour, there were many in the area. _"Trying to poison me?"_ The creature's acidic touch was melting through his new Red 'R' shirt. _"That won't work."_ He reached over his back and grabbed the creature's head. It had a ridge that was obviously used to cut through water while swimming. _"Let go"_ It tightened its grip, so did he. The fingers dug into his chest to attempt to deliver the creature's poison. With a sigh, Ryan could feel the creatures head collapsing between his fingers. It must have hurt because very quickly the thing let go, and was gone completely before the vagrant could turn around.

Already, Ryan could see which side was winning, and it wasn't his own. Most of his allies had been forced back into a small circle. The circle was patrolled by four pokemon that the large man had a hard time recognizing due to how often and fast they moved. In the middle of the ring moved Shauna, she wasn't as worried as one would expect from a child her age. The pokemon were doing their utmost to simply hold back opponents. And then the gunshot rung out. Shauna flinched and turned on her heel to look at a man outside the ring. The man had his gun levelled at her. To the vagrants earnest suprise, the young lady lifted a gun of her own. She wasn't comfortable holding it, that much was clear, and if she hit him but missed the perfect spot; he would fire and kill her. Looking around, the large man couldn't see any way he could help her. Until his eyes rested on the now dead black dog. Cupping his hands under his mouth, the ex-teacher dry heaved. Again and again. Her hand had started shaking, and he could hear the man shouting to surrender. Suddenly his cupped hands were filled with bile. It was enough. Had he approached, the man would undoubtably fire. If Ryan didn't, there was no telling how the situation would unfold. Pulling from his pocket a knife, the large man coated it with his own bile. The man was approaching the circle, and at Shauna's order, the pokemon didn't attack him, she was slowly lowering her own gun as he neared. And so the knife was thrown. All he was able to do was scratch the man's back thigh. It was all he needed to. The man screamed in pain, dropping the gun as he fell to his knees.

The man was screaming, rolling on the ground gripping the light scratch on the back of his thigh. The vagrant leaned back against the car. Groaning, he looked around. Very quickly he had found himself seperated from everyone else. Even most of Team Flare's pokemon were avoiding him. The Ninja-esc poisonous frog hadn't gotten far, and appeared to have collapsed over the small mound of brown and orange fur. When he looked back at the group, Ryan found himself suddenly closer to them. His chest had skid across the ground several meters. Picking himself up off the ground, the large man's back ached. Looking back over his good shoulder, Ryan witnessed a large blueish canine with what looked like a golden lion mane atop the car. He looked back down as he stood up. _"What's it with these people and their dogs? Mightyena, Houndoom, now a fucking Manectric."_ Turning around, the vagrant watched the new dog crouched low as it approached him. _"I Can't be fucked right now, I have to find and stop Lysandre. Just fuck off."_ It wasn't listening. The creature broke into a run and Ryan lowered himself. It fucking hurt but he was ready to take this hit. As it lept at him, two large claws grabbed its back and flung it sideways into a house nearby. Leveyr swooped away to circle the 'protected' area again. A whimper grabbed his attention again. The lioness was limping toward him. _"Lets go Embeee"_ he nodded, patting his thigh as the vagrant began trudging back to the group. There was still at least thirty of the fire dogs, and fourty of the huge mightyenas. _"They're down to 200."_ He growled. They were almost routed.


	36. Chapter 33: The first stage

Inside the ring was pain and misery. The people lay clutching their pokemon, or clutched by them. The four that ran the perimeter were tiring, and soon their only security would falter and fail, and the vagrant would watch the people within the circle be ripped apart for his stupidity. He'd argued to let them in, let them fight. And now they would die alongside the police they'd come to help. The first to falter was one of Shauna's, but he could not tell whom. And when they fell, through burst a wave of slime creatures, washing into the ring to infect the people seeking solace. _"Volley"_ In desperation he pointed at them, hoping his team were not too weakened to fight at his word. A couple weak fireballs flicked past him, scoring several of the creatures but not enough to make any sort of impact. He didn't have the time to call for another shot, a magnificent shimmering wall sprung up, forcing the air between the large man and the creatures apart. As soon as the wall started between them, it slowly spread to the left and right. The patrollers fell quickly back and were secured behind this shimmering ring wall, held fast by four pokemon at its edge. Annwn stood closest to Ryan, the end of his wand pressed against the wall and a look of fierce determination on his face. At each of what would be the corners of a square around this circular wall, stood three more; large golden creatures with star shaped heads and sporting twisted metal spoons they had pressed against the barrier. It was secure, and everyone inside was safe. The light distorted through the rippling shield, but the vagrant could see beyond the canine's patrolling the edge, biting at the shield but never really affecting it. A dome, they were locked inside a protective dome, whilst the teacher watched the enormous crystalline flower before them begin to bloom. The beautiful shimmering petals, larger than houses, lowered to crush the buildings around them. And the motions inside grew more frantic as Ryan watched. The time was upon them. He had lost, and would now suffer the punishment.

Stepping away from the wall, the vagrant turned and counted his companions; Annwn, Shauna, Chuey, Leveyr, Embeee, the chandelier, Blargg, he looked down at the snail-like creature seemingly made of molten rock. _"Aren't you suppose to be-"_ Ryan's head almost snapped up as he scanned the area for the tree he'd hidden Fyre behind. No, No, No, there it was. A lone tree on the outskirt of the town, outside the barrier. He ran to the section of wall closest the tree, shuffling sideways to try and get a better view around the trunk to check on the little ball of fluff. When he saw, his heart sank. By happenstance he'd looked right, back toward the main town, and saw an old maroon dog waddling slowly along with its fluffy white tufts of fur sagging slightly around it. _"FEAR!"_ He screamed, hands ever on the barrier as he shuffled sideways, almost crab running along the wall to get to the old dog. Fyre was walking about three meters away from the edge of the barrier, sniffing the ground and following something the vagrant couldn't see. _"FEAR! FEAR come here!"_ He banged on the firm, immovable wall of light. _"FEAR"_ The vagrant's voice shook a little, watching the little canine sniffing a body before continuing on his merry way, one ear drooping as he sniffed along. _"Annwn! Let me out"_ He shouted to the pokemon closest, its wand pressed against the barrier. _"Let me get him, then I'll be back"_. Nothing happened. _"Annwn! FEAR!"_ He shouted, banging on the barrier. He couldn't even get a handhold as the surface seemed perfectly smooth to him. The large man dropped to his knees, clawing at the dirt at the base of the barrier. Behind every handful of dirt, every rock he moved, stood the barrier reaching down. His forehead rested against the shield as he screamed through it. _"FEAR! COME HERE, FEAR"_ He ignored the shaking in his own voice. The old dog sat, Ryan had a chance, perhaps he could hear him afterall. _"FEAR!"_ No reaction. The little head lifted to sniff the air. Ryan could see the dark shapes beginning to pace around the innocent little ball. When he drew his fist back to slam the wall again, a ball of fire flew past him and easily through the force out into the area beyond. Looking over his shoulder showed the lioness charging another shot, flames licking her upper muzzle as another ball built within. _"What are you-? Yes! Protect him, good girl!"_ Another ball soared past him, followed in rapid succession by more from others. Each of his pokemon had begun spitting fire through the barrier at around Fyre. Only Annwn stood resolute. _"The fire won't hurt him."_ He smiled a little before the arms grabbed him around the waist. Four huge arms from a creature at least three heads taller than the large vagrant pulled him away from where he'd been kneeling. Shouts of confusion met the flashes of light around them as every battered and wounded pokemon capable of throwing fire unleashed themselves to help. Looking through the hot but solid wall the vagrant watched as these attacks seemed entirely too accurate. Though not to the black shapes. _"FEAR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"_ He struggled in this things arms, trying his best to twist himself free or break an arm to escape. _"Stop it, he can't withstand that, he's too old! Stop that you're hurting him. FEAR!"_ steam was rolling over his eyes as his tears evaporated almost instantly. _"FEAR!"_

Ryan thrashed like a madman, screaming at Annwn, screaming at the mass of attackers needlessly attacking his old friend. Fyre wasn't part of the team. He wasn't suppose to be part of battles. **_"Ryan?"_** A voice echoed in his mind. The vagrant froze, looking down at the purple furred canine, the one who had originally shared to him Fyre's thoughts. **_"Can he hear me?"_** the voice continued. _"Fear?"_ More steam rolled over his eyes. **_"Ryan hears me!"_** The warmth in the voice almost sounded like the excitement of a wagging tail. **_"I happy Ryan. You kept the promise!"_** He couldn't help it as the memory rose to mind.

A little boy kneeled in the grass behind an untouched and beautiful menhir stone. Slowly he crawled a step forward, then another. Inching forward to look around the rock at a brown dog sitting with its back to him. Another small step, have to be quiet. And he pounced. The dog's bark was excited and happy. The boy missed grabbing him but the brown puppy rolled over anyway, yipping and wagging its tail excitedly. _"You're so silly Fyr"_ the boy smiled, scruffing and rubbing the exposed belly as the little dog's whole back end wiggled along with its tail. The puppy rolled over and bounced around before licking the boys face excitedly. He couldn't stop giggling. It was only when a flash of light nearby grabbed the dogs attention did he have a moment to calm down and breathe. A grown up was standing nearby, looking down at a puppy like fyre, though it was a little bigger. Ryan knew what the man would say, and even mouthed along with him. A set of words so often repeated they'd become almost sacred here. _"Here, it is your choice to evolve. If you want to, I won't stop you. If you don't, I won't be mad"_ The other dog's fur started turning a yellow colour as little arcs of light jumped to it from the big stones around them. Its yellow pelt grew sharp and jagged, while it gained what almost seemed a streamlined appearance. _"That's a trainer, fyr"_ The young Ryan whispered. _"They travel all over, meeting new people and seeing beautiful far off lands. I want to do that some day."_ The brown pup licked his cheek, He was already smiling but that just made it bigger. _"We'll do that some day Fyr, you and me!"_ The boy puffed out his chest. _"We'll travel, and meet new people and see new places. Would you like that?"_ Fyr barked, his tongue lolling out one side of his muzzle. _"Me too. I have school though. I promise we will Fyr! After school we'll go travelling."_ The man walked off with his pet, but Ryan wasn't watching. They were going to go adventure, someday.

 ** _"Ryan is a good boy"_** the voice continued in his mind, the purple creatures eyes locked on the vagrants. He couldn't bring himself to look away and at Fyr, out there under fire. **_"Now I keep my promise"_** His promise? Ryan never asked Fyr to promise anything. Let alone anything that would cause him to sit out there and let himself be bombarded over and over again.

The excited boy sat on the floor of the cozy lounge room under a sparkling green tree covered in tinsel and baubles. _"That one next"_ the man pointed to a present. The little boy smiled as he passed the wrapped present to the woman sitting on the lounge while smiling at the man. A new set of paints was what she'd been wanting for the past few months. _"Right. Last one"_ The man smiled, it was a small present, big enough for at best a card. The boy had already gotten a physics textbook and calculator, odd presents for someone as young as he was, but he liked them. The small package was labelled _"Ryan. From Gramma and Grandpa"_ He ripped it open as the man got up from the lounge and scurried away in his silly 'quiet' walk. Out fell a small Christmas card. 'Merry Christmas Ryan. We think you're old enough now, turn around.' The boy spun on the spot the moment he finished reading, coming face to face to an excited little brown dog. It barked as its tail thumped the ground loudly and put its paws on the boys lap. Ryan flung his arms around the dog, hugging excitedly. _"He needs a name lad, Any ideas?"_ The man had let go of the puppy and was sitting on his haunches watching them. Ryan was already on his back holding the puppy in the air, playgrowling at it only to be licked excitedly in response. After a couple minutes the boy finally laughed out an answer. _"Fear?"_ No, that wasn't right, Ryan spelt it for him. _"F.Y.R, but pronounced 'Fear'?"_ The boy smiled and nodded, patting the puppy in his lap. _"Well hello Fyr"_ the man reached over to pat the pup as well. _"You be a good boy, okay? You protect Ryan. Make sure nothing happens to him. Got that?"_ The puppy barked once, tail swishing as if wanting to sweep the floor as the muzzle lifted to nuzzle the boys chin happily.

Ryan was finally able to rip himself out of the grip of the four arms to rush over to the wall. _"FEAR DON'T"_ the large fists bashed on the protective barrier as the fires died down. A clearing had formed around the little doggy, none had dared approached as the fire had flown forward. But Ryan didn't notice that, all he could see was Fyre. The little dog was laying down on the spot, parts of his fur actually singed despite their immense resistance to fire. _"FEAR"_ He was on his knees bashing at the door. Though he wasn't alone. Chuey was beside him trying to cut the barrier with her knife, shouting at Annwn that she would cut him if they weren't let through. But all Ryan saw was Fyr, and the shadows of people moving in around him. It was almost like the people out there knew he was watching. Nothing passed by his view of fyr, no big black dog, no person walked between them. Though the shape of one man walked, almost strutted into the ring to stand over Fyr, the man's foot swung back, and then into the dogs side. Fyr rolled sideways but barely moved thereafter. _"FEAR!"_ The roar was so loud that Chuey had to cover her ears in anticipation of more, and the people on the other side of the barrier actually looked his way. The smell of burning fabric assaulted his nose, but Ryan didn't care. He ignored the flames bursting from the back of his neck for at least twenty centimeters in a ring as if his collar. All he cared about was breaking through the barrier. Again and again he bashed against it. Fists, feet, even throwing his whole weight behind his shoulder. _"FEAR"_ Nothing would budge the wall. _"Don't you fucking touch him. I'll fucking kill you! FEAR!"_ He wouldn't stop, perhaps at some time his shoulder would shatter under this force, but he would not stop. _"Let me out! FEAR!"_ His shouts were staggering those around him as he desperately just pressed against the wall, pushing hard as if he could drag the whole dome with himself inside it. To no avail.

 ** _"Ryan"_** The voice was weak and distant. But he could hear it in his mind. The pain its condition brought him redoubled his efforts to break the barrier and run to him. **_"Was I a good boy?"_** What's it like to hear your own heart break? To hear a voice you hoped would never sound like that, ask a question you know you could never bring yourself to answer. _"Fyr..."_ **_"Was I a good boy?"_** His head hung almost limply. The large man's hands pressed against the force above his head, the pushing stopped. _"Yes. You are a good boy."_ It was almost instant. The moment the large man had whispered his reply, the ground shook beneath this feet. The sound of a blast so loud it could not only be heard within the dome, but felt in the bones of everyone around. White fire rolling like crashing waves over the shimmering dome. It's beauty was pain to him. Weak and quiet were the screams that managed to pierce the weakening barrier. Even after the flames outside died away, those around the vagrants neck refused to. Ash and rubble met his eyes. The grass was all gone, every blade disintegrated. Dried-ashen husks littered the ground standing no closer than 8 meters. Smoke rolled through the area silently, drifting in the wind. The great crystalline flower stood unmarked, looming over the scene as if this was a picture it had been drawn in once before. The shimmering wall faded away slowly, allowing the clouds of ash to roll into the only ring of colour anyone could see. Ryan didn't care. Slowly he rose to his feet. As best he could at any rate. His knees shook and only carried him three steps before dropping him back down. He didn't care how pathetic he looked. The large man would crawl to Fyr if need be. The ground was still hot, so much that the people who had been within the dome with him stayed where they were, unwilling to set foot out. His hand pressed down onto a scalding piece of metal, a mangled white hot piece of some unknowable technology that he brushed away to keep on his path to the only mound in the center of the sixteen meter ring of utter destruction. The small body of Fyr that lay among the ash in front of him. The vagrant was shuffling on his knees as he grew closer, deaf to all sounds in the distance around him. Blind to the motions inside the crystal machine. Only Fyr mattered.

His hand gently brushed across the fur, it was still fluffy as the ash wafted out of it into a cloud around him. Very gently and carefully, Ryan brushed Fyr's fur clean. Fyr didn't like being dirty. His hands were suprisingly steady for his state as he scooped Fyre up onto his arms. Very gently holding the ball against him and pressing his face into the fluff. _"I'm sorry"_ He whispered, ignoring steam rolling off his eyes. He lifted Fyr's chin to lightly press his nose against the old pups, to no reaction. His huge arms cradled the little ball as one would hold a newborn baby. On his knees the man lightly rocked back and forth where he sat, whole body shaking as his crying roar echoed around him. The large man couldn't see for the could of steam over his eyes, but he didn't need to. All he needed right now was to let it out. At times he could swear his wasn't the only wailing, that another voice beside him was just as heartbroken at the sight in his arms.


	37. Chapter 34: The second stage

His hand gently brushed across the fur, it was still fluffy as the ash wafted out of it into a cloud around him. Very gently and carefully, Ryan brushed Fyr's fur clean. Fyr didn't like being dirty. His hands were suprisingly steady for his state as he scooped Fyre up onto his arms. Very gently holding the ball against him and pressing his face into the fluff. "I'm sorry" He whispered, ignoring steam rolling off his eyes. He lifted Fyr's chin to lightly press his nose against the old pups, to no reaction. His huge arms cradled the little ball as one would hold a newborn baby. On his knees the man lightly rocked back and forth where he sat, whole body shaking as his crying roar echoed around him. The large man couldn't see for the could of steam over his eyes, but he didn't need to. All he needed right now was to let it out. At times he could swear his wasn't the only wailing, that another voice beside him was just as heartbroken at the sight in his arms. As the large man's mind started to work once again, his head tilted so slightly to his right, to the viper woman kneeling beside him. Her hand running through the fur amidst quiet sobs. Beyond her he could see the large silhouette of a figure carrying a stick. As much as he wanted to resist, his muscles tightened; his hands gripping the fur instinctively as he growled angrily at Annwn. He could have reached Fyre in time if only the barrier was down. He could have saved him. Annwn wouldn't let him. To Ryan's mind at this very moment, Annwn killed Fyre. And he was ready to rip the pokemon limb from limb. But as the thought crossed his mind, the pain and fear of losing him too hurt too much for the large man to move. He felt betrayed, as if by his own child he'd raised and taught. Annwn's paw lowered and offered him a warped piece of red hot metal. Hand shaking, Ryan's hand lowered Fyre's bottom onto his leg to release it and reach out. Shaking, the vagrant took the piece of metal and turned it over as it scalded his skin. The embossing on the back was partially faded and difficult to read. '_/sand^e |a|s'

He stared at it for a couple seconds as it felt as if his blood was boiling beneath the surface. The vagrants head raised to look into Annwn's eyes and his lip curled in a snarl. Lysandre. If Lysandre wasn't being a fucking dick, he wouldn't be here. If Ryan had not come, Fyre would be fine. Unconciously, the vagrant had begun snarling quite loudly, his vocal chords vibrating as he broke out into a formidable yell that shook the ash around him. His fingers were constricting on the burnt, warped and sharp shard of metal. It was not sharp enough to break his by-now calloused skin. Everything went red for the large man, even the droplets falling from the chunk of metal. His grip tightened constantly, and when he finally turned to look at Chuey he could easily see the sweat beading down her forehead and neck. She'd moved a little distance away, sweating and crying, unable to reach out and touch Fyre for the sheer heat of the air around the vagrant. He looked back at the shard of metal from Lysandre labs in his hand. Holding his hand palm up away from Fyre, he slowly tilted his fist, and watched as the liquid poured out of his grip into a puddle of molten steel on the ground. He could feel his clothes fraying and starting to burn with simply the ambient heat, despite his not concentrating on them.

In a brief moment of sanity, the vagrant gently laid Fyre down upon the ground. The two steps he took backward launched him from kneeling to standing as if collapsing to his knees in reverse. The stones outside Geosenge city shook slightly and passed huge bolts of lightning between each other. Another step backward. He could feel his finger bones snapping as it felt like each one was growing another knuckle. Looking down at his hands in the red light of the world, the vagrant noticed that only his slacks and trenchcoat seemed unharmed by the heat pulsating off him. Fire had erupted from his back and through the trenchcoat, flames tracing the tattoo on his back. The vagrant could feel horns growing along the top of his skull and directly out the back, the slight tingle of an electrical charge flowing along them, and the occasional discharge from his horns to his back when he turned his head the right way. So hot was his blood that in the few places he cared to look at his own skin, the vagrant could see light shining through his skin from his veins. As Ryan finally looked away from himself and toward the civilians near to him, he could see a strange colour he'd never seen before. A ghostly echo of the person at the core of each of them. A strange and beautiful colour that shone out from the menhirs and the giant crystalline flower. He did not look at Fyre, instead his head turned northward, toward the target of his fury.

As the furious vagrant marched northward, his footfalls shifted from sinking into ash to pressing his weight upon strangely brittle burnt objects. He felt them crunch underfoot. In places he knew what it was he stood upon, and the repurcussions were a concept he did not care to think on. Perhaps he couldn't think of it in his state of mind. He didn't linger on it, the path he tread was not as important as his destination ahead, a pile of stones that had been erected north of the city in the past couple weeks. An arrangement of rocks as big as those from Menhir trail, but strange and foreign, brought from somewhere else. Gripping one stone upon its side he heaved at it, A sound of creaking and ripping metal echoed from around his feet as he tore the secret door off its rail to unveil the solid steel elevator doors beyond it. 'FLARE MONITOR STATION' was emblazoned across the pristine steel door. The font reminded him briefly of Lysandre Labs. His fingertips were not callous enough to form a grip on the surface in order to pull it open. Applying all his force to the seperator, the monster couldn't push it aside. Eyes scrunched he stepped back and roared at it a moment, before slamming his bare palms into it and focusing all his efforts on his fingertips. A slow process, but he could feel the metal melting around his hands as he pushed in, his weight and the heat of his fury buckling the door eventually. The monster strode into the small chamber, ripping the broken and warped metal in with him.

He didn't press anything, the elevator simply began its path downward. _"Look at yourself Ryan"_ Lysandre's voice crackled through a speaker he could not see. _"What the fuck happened to you? Have you been exposed too long to the energy of the Ultimate weapon?"_ He looked at a small glass window that protected a tiny camera. At this point the vagrant didn't care, let Lysandre watch him. _"The ultimate weapon's flower has finally bloomed above the soil. Don't you find its beauty captivating?"_ The vagrant wasn't only glaring, piece by piece he ripped fist sized chunks of metal off the door that rode down with him. _"As we speak, it draws its energy from the Legendary Pokémon."_ After what felt like 3 floors, the vagrant found wires in his plaything and began tearing out bundles of them. _"Though I suppose in your state it could draw from you just as easily couldn't it?"_ A slight chuckle was near indistinguishable from the static, but the vagrant didn't care. At this point he'd pulled free all the loose wiring and had begun salvaging the few computer chips contained within and the hydraulics that pull the door open. _"Ryan, I apologize that I have been forced to do this. But conflicting egos drive this world-things don't always go the way you want!"_ He finished gutting the door and began pressing the husk into as small a form as he could, crushing the super-heated metal between his hands and forging a small plate of dense steel. _"And as much as I wish I could face you, I don't think that's a good idea. So I bid you Adieu old friend."_ A short buzzer sounded and the chamber he found himself in began to freefall. Gathering up the material's he'd gathered, the monster's fire coated arm slammed into the exposed wall and the roof of the capsule melted around him as it continued to plummet.

With a low growl, it began to slowly climb down the inner wall of the elevator chute, the crash of the capsule at the base of the shaft did not shake the monster. His feet smashed the wall open in points, making easy handholds for his journey downward, the attempt on his life only strengthening the heat of his flames. Or perhaps it was his growing proximity to the root of the ultimate weapon. It did not matter. The lights had begun to flicker where they were present, an electrical charge leaping from his arms into the system beyond the wall as the fire destroyed a path downward. The room at the only low opening to the shaft was a brilliant white and perfectly clean. Rows of desks held a huge number of monitors that showed footage from all over Kalos, as well as many depicting graphs of incoming data measuring various things to do with, he assumed, the power of the weapon. Nestled and framed atop a small platform, with every line of architecture in the room drawing ones eye to it, stood an enormous screen. It showed only one thing, A large dark room with a machine in the center that was hooked up to huge black cords. In the center of this machine sat a black and red egg as tall as the Monster. And beside the machine, smiling and waving to the camera, stood Lysandre. The monster too grinned, moving about the room and ripping apart the many computers and seemingly harvesting various things from them; chips, motherboards, glass, Ram, fans, and most importantly; lots and lots of metal.


	38. Chapter 35: Enter stage left

The strange, near-human creature had not been in the monitor room long when a constant, periodic thumping from the elevator shaft drew its attention. Looking over, the monster watched as upon her razor-armed minion decended the green haired woman Chuey. The pokemon's bladed arms punctured the wall much as the monster's fists had upon its own decent. A quick flash of red light removed the pokemon from the scene, leaving Chuey standing inside the door staring at what Ryan had become. Several plates of metal were melting in the creature's hands, but it did not speak. In fact, Chuey didn't talk either, was she disgusted by his appearance? Was she angry with him? It didn't matter, they had a job to do, and she wasn't stopping to make any kind of plan.

The green haired woman stopped at the only door aside the elevator. A large mechanical iron door, wtih numerous locks and apparent reinforcements on it. Due to the size of the room, not many of Chuey's pokemon could fit, and she was forced to only call upon one at a time to attempt to burst through it or rend it apart. Fire, Lightning, even brute force did nothing to this thing. Several times she looked over at the monster, though it seemed ingrossed in bending metal around its arm or rewiring circuitboards. Even from across the room it was clear that he could melt the metal as much as he desired, almost at will. For a moment she wished he would come help, or even just talk to her. But when this thought entered her mind, and a blast of fire erupted from one of her aids, she could see a flurry of the strange energy pulsing from the walls to this mans ever stranger form. Maybe it was best he was all the way over there.

Eventually, as she knew it would, the three headed bird was able to force the door open with a combination of everything she knew to try. As it ripped open, a sudden wave of cool air rushed out and for a moment chilled Chuey's breath into a cloud of vapour before it was normal once again. Carrying its half-finished work, the large monster of a man marched forward, a single purpose in its eyes. A line of thought that lead onward, down the dark staircase beyond the now ruined door. _"Ryan"_ She grabbed his arm, demanding he look at her, a feat that took a couple seconds to achieve. When his eyes locked with hers she knew the look, having seen it before, but not from him. _"You should get your pokemon"_ Her grip loosened slightly. The monster growled, or maybe snarled a little in response before looking at its own hands and slowly shaking its head. The growls that followed was more pulses than any before, her hand fell away as the green haired woman tried to piece together the closest words she could to the strange and rather intimidating sounds. _"Enough, death?"_ It growled once, turned away and marched back down the staircase into the darkness, the path lit by the constant flashes of light jumping from the wall into its back, and the glow of the metal it worked in its hands.

With her feathered companion behind her and her serpentine ally draped across her shoulders, Chuey followed him into the darkness below. _"What are you making?"_ She finally asked, watching as it stowed another computer chip in a fithy pocket of its many ragged clothing. It ignored her as the giant left hand crushed several chunks of superheated metal into smaller and smaller pieces that it melted together to a chunk about the length of its chest. _"Fucking answer me!"_ She snapped. The monster's head flicked around to look up her, staring for a couple seconds before it cooled the chunks of metal and set them on the stair beside its feet. Taking one stride back up, the monster stooda step below the green-haired vixen yet remained slightly above her own height. Drawing out a knife, it mock-brandished it before shaking its head and handing the blade to her. It then drew a gun, which it nodded, pointed it around a little and finally solemnly shook its head as it passed it to her. It then nodded to the pile of scrap, picked it up, and resumed its work as it headed back down the staircase. _"It's a weapon"_ There was no response, but then, it wasn't a question.

The staircase reached its rest at the start of a long and very old hallway. Unlike the journey down, this path was actually quite well lit. Well enough in fact to show the five people standing about halfway down with a mass of small pokemon in front of them. The monster didn't seem to notice them and just walked forward, working on its device as Chuey and the feathered creature pushed past to block his way, but also the way to him. With a presence in front of it, the monster looked up and past everything to the end of the hall. The final door in sight, it lowered its gaze again to continue its work, standing there as if unphased by the small army between them. Chuey however was not suffering tunnel vision and instead took up an attack stance. It was a muddle of orders, she couldn't even hear herself too well, but apparently Clyde could. The oncoming pokemon ducked and weaved, spitting their own attacks and slashing at the feathered creature. Despite its lanky shape though, the three headed bird was easily avoiding many of the attacks and even returning fire in good measure. Anything that slipped past it was bitten by the serpent or kicked by the vixen's apparently steel-capped boot.

A sharp whistle carried over even the sound of battle, followed by a woman's voice. _"Stop!"_ And in an instant, almost all the small creatures were gone from the hallway. Leaving only the humans, Chuey's Serpent, Clyde, The Monster, and a weird mime-like creature. Though the mime stood upon the other side. _"Is that Ryan?"_ The woman stepped forward, her blue hair cut short in a frame around her face. _"Euch, what happened to him, did you fuck him dear? Is that why he's so hideous now, did he catch something from you?"_ This caught Chuey so off guard as to leave her stunned and for a moment incapable of responding more than to ask who this woman was. _"Mable. I'm Mable, dear."_ The woman smiled, looking from Chuey to the monster. _"Looks like I was right, he has a thing for girls with weird haircolour. Though I guess if he's replacing me with you, brains mustn't matter to him as much as he use to say."_ The woman feigned being upset. _"Oh, and I thought he loved me for my mind."_ her laugh sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Chuey, who for the life of her couldn't think of how to respond.

 _"I don't have to take this"_ Chuey spat, growing ever more pissed off at being called various shades of stupid by a woman who probably bleaches her hair before dying it blue. _"Clyde, get her"_ the three headed bird dashed forward, only to be met halfway by a large weasel or cat-like creature with a crown of crimson blades and long white claws. Immediately the thing took a swipe at Clydes long legs, though the bird was fast enough to dance out of the way. _"Step on it"_ She shouted, responding quickly to the appearance of the strange creature. Mable made some order as well which resulted in a wave of cold air pulsing from the small creature but somehow not reaching Chuey as the heat behind her surged temporarily. Just as the fight was really getting going, and Chuey's focus had begun to narrow on the two actions. A light tap on her shoulder had her glance back. The monster stood behind her, its left hand on her right arm as it gently pushed her aside to the wall. Confused, she obliged.

The monster took three steps forth and, with its left hand, gestured for the five people to move out of the way. Confused, they looked amongst each other before scoffing at him. The one man responded _"We were sent to stop you here, to hold you off. You think we're just going to move because you wave us away like servants?"_ The monster's right eyebrow raised and it nodded slightly, leading to many of the people to laugh rauciously at this turn of events. Mable however, returned the weasel and slinked to the back of the group and pressed herself against the same wall as the towering figure had lead Chuey. The arcs of light seemed to come faster and faster, flickering almost like a strobe light as the monster raised its right arm. The already huge fist and forearm were covered in a metal casing that extended out and twisted around, creating a strangely cannon like appearance protuding from his arm. A warm blueish-gold glow began building inside the appendage, which the monster pressed against the wall on his right. After a couple seconds the monster closed his eyes and was jolted left a little. With a deafening crack and a blinding flash of light, the hall was filled with a strangely metallic tasting smoke. As the cloud drifted away up the staircase to freedom, the new room beside the hallway was revealed. Large enough at least for a Queen bed, two bedside tables, a wardrobe, chest of drawers and maybe a couple potted plants, and apparently melted from the rock itself.

There was no need for them to move now, but that did not stop the remaining four people and the mime-pokemon from flattening themselves against the unmelted wall, and quivering noticably. The monster resumed its uncaring march forward, Chuey in tow. Though when his companion was in line with the others, he stopped her. The monsters eyes almost begging for a moment ashe pointed to her, then both his eyes and then the people. Though the final gesture was made with his right hand, and the weapon strapped to it. _"I'm coming with"_ She demanded. Though faultered a little near the end. The monsters head hung slightly as it turned and approached the final door. A huge masterpiece of apparently ancient construction, carved from marble and inset into the surrounding rock near flawlessly. As beautiful and priceless as it was, he had to get through. And so he raised his right arm.


	39. Chapter 36: Fury's End

The beast readied to fire upon the ancient door. A moment before it truly willed the attack; a grinding of stone on stone began as the door slid slowly open enough for it to only just sidle through. The room inside was a difficult sight. An ancient chamber, many meters in diameter and as tall as a three story building. It looked almost like a squashed sphere, or even an ancient stone heart? With the tunnels reaching out of the top at various angles, and the mass of modern wiring running all across the floor in what could almost be a terrible attempt at heart surgery. Upon a plinth in the center of the chamber, sat a magnificent black egg. It was at least three times as tall as the beast himself, and the grooves across its top and bottom had the eering sense of fingers.

One step. Closer the beast drew to the egg, the more its eyes felt transfixed, as if it were forgetting the world around. A second step. A sudden force knocked the monster in the back, covered by the grinding sound of the door closing. A third step. A warm liquid ran down the back of its neck from in its hair. For a moment it stopped, running its hand across the back of its head, looking for this annoying liquid that was stealing its attention away from the egg that called so longingly to him. The liquid bubbled a little in the heat of the hand as it was brought around into the monsters sight. Red, metallic, acidic. Blood. The beast turned to see the crimson hair and perpetually evident phallic nasus of Lysandre. The other man was speaking. But the beast could not hear him. It could hear nothing but the beckoning pulses of life from the egg upon the plinth. Midway through the man's speech, the beast turned back again, back to the egg. It was bigger than before. Almost like it was growing for him. Like it wanted him to reach out and touch it. A desire the monster shared.

A bolt of lightning shot past the beast and struck the egg. How dare he! The creature spun on a heel to roar at the man. Only now could it see the three almost fly-looking machines buzzing around his opponent. They were tethered to the man by long plastic cords that no doubt held some circuitry. A cut or burn in the right place would easily disable them. And then he could rip out the man's throat or disintegrate his head, so as to be alone again. _"I won't let you hurt it"_ Were the few words the creature could make out as it attempted to step out of the way of a second burst. _"Yvetal will power the machine, and the world-"_ It didn't care. The creature levelled its arm cannon at the man, but with a couple blasts of light he had flown across the room. Apparently the bolts could throw him clear of any attacks. The beast growled. This would be fun.

Every time it had lined up the shot, the man would move. As powerful as its weapon could be, it could not aim fast enough. The man rocketed around the room, carving into the beautifully carved ancient stone. Such disregard and disrespect infuriated the beast. It couldn't wait to tear into the man. To grab him and break his spine for his sacrilege. Each scorchmark destroyed maybe hundreds of mozaic tiles. No, there's no moziac. It must have been murals he'd not noticed upon entering. Beautiful paintings in the stone themselves, lineart and geometry designed to draw the eye to the plinth in the middle. The beasts train of thought was so rudely interrupted by the slight sting of a fist rocketing into it's cheek. It could feel the poor man's bones shatter at the collision but didn't care. He was getting away as it grabbed the cord of one of the small flying machines. Its fist heated as the beast swung the cord, with the man at the far end, like a ball on a rope. Slamming the pathetic creature into the stonework as the heat melted the metal and liquified the plastic as it just ripped the cord apart. The scalding plastic dripped onto the mans pants in the short amount of time it took him to gather his wits and rocket back out of the confrontation. A pathetic mortal, nothing more than a fly to the beast. Little to worry about, but so sweetly deserving of pure, delicious, punishment. Even the pulses that shuddered through him agreed. Kill the man, he deserves it.

A flash of red light filled the room, darkening it with meat, muscle, and shadow. and obscuring the beasts view of the egg. A new creature filled the room, almost entirely. A gigantic serpentine body that coiled many times upon itself as it slithered through the place. As wide in any given place as the average car, and more heavily armoured than most military tanks. The creatures Cyan colouring was little camouflage in the ever darker room. And its draconic head struck at the beast, giving him only a couple seconds to move out of the way. Its teeth were a sickly yellow and caked with splattered blood. Never before had the beast seen one of this size. But bigger wasn't always better. Due to the fire erupting from the beasts arms and legs, it had no way to hide from the great creature, and it didn't take many strikes for him to be eventually engulfed in the creatures mouth. Snarling, the beast cut itself on one of the giant teeth beside it. And in the silence of the pokemon's throat; bled. The rippling airwaves carried no sound to the beast, but even given that, it knew the beast was screaming as the acid and poisons in the beasts blood ate into the creature.

Surrounded in brilliant red light, and watching as his own feet turn red a moment, the beast grinned as it fell to the floor in the absence of the poor, pathetic serpent. His next attacker was not nearly as impressive. A large crow pokemon, on its first swoop past him it attempted to claw the monster's eyes. But the bolt of light from his human foe, forced the beast to move out of the way just in time. Or perhaps that was the intention. As it swooped in for the second shot, the beast understood. Were he to avoid the birds attack, it could not avoid the bolt, and vice versa. Very well. With its large, fiery clawed maw, the monster snatched the poor bird out of the sky and moved it in line with the shot. If it wasn't a carcass, it would likely be after he smashed it into the ground. If only the red light didn't rob him of another kill. Looking back at the human opponent, the beast revelled in the horror and terror in the poor mans eyes. Before its own were slowly drawn to the magnificent egg. A large black egg, at least 5 times as large as the beast, with grooves on the top and bottom that looked so like the fingers of death, it was amazing.

The third opponent was nothing. Almost literally nothing to the beast. A small weasel-esc creature that had started to run up to him. The beast grinned. And with a single kick, knocked the tiny thing back into a wall, and away in a flash of red light. Back to his true victim, who had foolishly come to within striking distance of the beast. As the beast swung its fist, it was tackled from the right by a huge lion. Its mane looked like lysandres, but the beast didn't care. The pokemon snarled and clawed and bit at him. It tried to break bones without drawing blood. _"Let me show you"_ Ryan grinned as he reached up and grabbed its neck; the fire on his arms dying down. With a single strong, fluid motion, he snapped the pokemons neck and rolled it off him. _"Your turn"_ Ryan's brow furrowed as he ran to Lysandre, grabbing a knife from the man's pocket as he felt much of his own rage subsiding. With one final motion of his enhanced strength, the vagrant sliced through the two remaining cords.

Ryan grabbed the man by the back of the neck and kicked out the back of his knees as he pulled down, throwing the inventor to the floor. He deserves to die. Of course he did. He wanted to kill everyone. No, he wanted to leave some alive. With a snarl, the large man placed the muzzle of the cannon to the other man's head.


End file.
